Απήχηση > 2016 > Ireland’s Battle Against Wind Farm Rollout Escalates - Vestas Workers Receive Death Threats
Ireland
Sunday feb. 21 2016
April 2, 2016 by stopthesethings 7 Comments
On the Centenary of the 1916 Easter Uprising – its causes and consequences – soon became the hot topic in Ireland: for the Irish, deliberating and celebrating its underdog status (whether at arms, through its history, or trade) is almost a National pastime.
Underdogs or not, let there be no doubt about it: the Irish know how to fight. And their fighting spirit is no more evident when the threat faced is one to Irish homes and hearts.
True it is that hard-working, decent, rural people throughout the world are fighting back – to obtain sensible energy policies that support growth, development and vibrant, prosperous rural communities – against an industry with all the natural respect for property rights of Genghis Khan; and the moral fibre of Judas Iscariot.
Outfits like struggling Danish turbine maker, Vestas have ridden roughshod over communities across the globe. While Vestas might be able to bully and placate Danes on their home turf (thanks to theinstitutional corruption it conjured up for its own mercenary benefit), the Irish are a different mark. From the tactics employed, it’s clear that the Irish play for keeps.
A while back we covered the story of how a group of (probably) IRA Volunteers put the frighteners on a wind farm developer in Ulster, whose workers quickly responded to the message and fled: Irish Gunmen Raise Arms & Kill Off Threatened Ulster Wind Farm
While that event might have been seen as an aberration, it seems that Irish ‘Volunteers’ have no intention of bowing down to an industry as selfish and vindictive as any distant or internal political tyrant. In that vein, the stakes in terms of freedom from oppression, and autonomy of action, are not so different from what went before during the Irish ‘Troubles’.
With just as much fury and passion, the boys from Fermanagh have delivered a stern message to Vestas & Co: leave or be prepared for a bullet.
The Danish Ambassador to Ireland is set to meet Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald following the receipt of death threats against workers in Vestas, a Danish company operating a windfarm formerly owned by the Quinn Group.
The meeting between Carsten Sondergaard, the Danish Ambassador, Vestas and the Department of Justice officials is scheduled for Thursday.
Ms Fitzgerald, who is expected to attend the crisis meeting, had already sought a report on the matter, which has seen workers receive three bullets and a threatening letter, warning them to stay away from the Slieve Rushen windfarm.
Vestas told the Sunday Independent that the purpose of the meeting was to raise concerns and discuss possible solutions.
Representatives of Mantlin, which owns the windfarm and whose parent company is European investment firm Platina Partners, will also attend.
Mantlin has said it is very concerned about the message the incidents have been sending out about investment in Co Fermanagh.
Senior executives at Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), the company that bought the old Quinn packaging and building businesses, have also faced threats.
QIH has said the incidents will not "distract us from our drive to ensure that the company continues the strong growth which we have demonstrated".
Sean Quinn Snr, who formerly led the Quinn Group, and who was appointed as a consultant to QIH in late 2014, has repeatedly spoken out against acts of intimidation in the region.
Sunday Indo Business
The Independent
When your entire business ‘model’ is to treat rural people with haughty disdain and merciless contempt, being presented with an ultimatum of the kind delivered in Fermanagh should come as no surprise.
Time for Vestas & Co to ‘Act on those Facts’ …