Shell Ireland has been accused of using "underhand" tactics in an opinion survey it is conducting in north Mayo on the Corrib gas project.
A Shell E&P Ireland spokeswoman said details of the research were a matter for Irish International, the company carrying it out on Shell's behalf. Eamon Clarkin, planning director of Irish International, said that the work was in full compliance with the Marketing Society of Ireland's code of practice.
The Shell to Sea campaign, which is opposed to the onshore gas pipeline, has questioned why such a survey is being carried out during Government-facilitated mediation. Former Ictu secretary general Peter Cassells was appointed to chair mediation between Shell and the five men released from prison.
Shell says that "ongoing research" is being conducted as part of its communications programme. A new communications team has been appointed by the multinational to the Corrib project, involving former RTÉ and BBC journalist John Egan.
The company conducting the survey for Shell has confirmed that selected individuals have been paid €50 for their participation in focus group meetings in Belmullet, Co Mayo, earlier this week. Several participants claimed they had been misled on the nature of the meetings, and proceedings were recorded. One of the participants believed it was a food survey, while another thought he was attending a current affairs debate.
Mr Clarkin said a company, Field Work Future, had been employed to recruit people to participate in a discussion, but it was quite normal to withhold details on the content of the discussion beforehand. A guarantee was also given to all participants that taped material was confidential and for research purposes only.
Participants had been asked to sign their names to acknowledge receipt of payment, Mr Clarkin said. Again, it was perfectly normal to pay a small incentive, he said.
Mr Clarkin said that he could not comment on whether participants had been misled, but would not condone such action if they had. He could not comment on whether a list of possible infrastructure projects which Shell might support for Mayo formed part of the discussion.
Mark Garavan, spokesman for the Shell to Sea group, said that the group was most concerned about people being misled. It was unclear as to how the data was to be used, he said. "If this is a genuine attempt to sound out opinions in the area, at this stage of the controversy, it is also a remarkable indictment of Shell's approach," he said.
