Lorna lifts lid on Corrib Gas controversy in riveting book

The story of the controversial Corrib Gas Field is not over yet but a Galway based journalist felt compelled to put it between the covers of a book.

Lorna Siggins’ account of the controversy that she has covered as Western and Marine Correspondent with The Irish Times for the past decade makes intriguing reading.

Once Upon A Time in the West - The Corrib Gas Controversy has the elements of all good stories – David and Goliath, the mighty and the meek, intrigue, sadness and how members of a small rural community found themselves in the news.North West Mayo is known for its wild beauty b

ut it is also a part of Ireland that was bypassed by the Celtic Tiger.However when the multi-national oil company, Shell, clapped their eyes on the wealth of a natural gas field, first discovered in 1996 just off the coast of North West Mayo, the lives of the local community were never to be the same again.

Lorna, who moved to Galway twelve years ago as The Irish Times woman in the West, first travelled to Erris to talk to fishermen concerned about how gas emissions would impact on sea life and their capacity to earn a living.

That was in 1998, and at that stage plans for a terminal for the gas project were very much in their infancy.

“I was following it really from a marine point of view, having been Marine Correspondent for The Irish Times before I moved to Galway,” she explains.

“So I knew a lot of people in the fishing industry and those interested in protecting marine resources. In the beginning, it was those working involved in shellfish who contacted me. At that stage there was no talk of a pipeline, so I was there before it became a controversial story,” adds Lorna.

And as the story evolved from the initial concerns of those depending on the sea for a livelihood, to local people raising concerns about the project to the formation of Shell to Sea, Lorna covered it for ten years.She never thought she would be the one writing the book about it, but about 18 months ago, the idea germinated and with the book’s publication this week, it marks not only the last ten years of the story but five years since the release of the Rossport Five, local men who were jailed for contempt of court in the ongoing battle between community members and Shell.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.