#COASTAL NOTES - A tunnel boring machine destined for work on the Corrib Gas Field project that became stuck at a country crossroads in Co Mayo for much of last week has been removed, as The Irish Times reports.
Shell E&P Ireland apologised to the local community and any road users "who were inconvenienced by this incident" after the truck carrying the giant machine jack-knifed at the isolated road junction on Tuesday 31 July.
The truck was one of four headed to the Sruwaddacon estuary in north Mayo for construction work on what will be the longest raw gas undersea tunnel in Western Europe, used to link the Corrib pipeline to the on-shore refinery at Bellanaboy.
It was finally removed from the crossroads on Friday 3 August.
A spokesman for Rossport Solidarity Camp added that veteran anti-Corrib campaigner Maura Harrington was arrested at one of the Garda checkpoints around the stricken vehicle some 10km away at Bangor Erris.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the controversial gas field project has come under much criticism from locals, activist groups and political parties for various issues.
In March last year, former Minister for Energy Pat Carey was rebuked for granting key consents for the Corrib gas pipeline on the day of the general election, despite planning only being approved by An Bord Pleanala with 58 conditions related to the construction and management of the 8.3km pipeline.
Earlier this summer the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) claimed the Department of Energy could be in breach of the EU habitats directive for licencing a seismic survey related to the project without providing adequate protection for marine wildlife.
And in June a Scandinavian economist who met residents in north Mayo told The Irish Times that the Norwegian people have "no idea of what's being done in their name" via the role of state oil firm Statoil in the Corrib Gas Field.
