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The policing of the Corrib gas protests has often been controversial. The Corrib gas project of Royal Dutch Shell, StatoilHydro and Marathon Oil has generated vehement opposition from people who will be directly affected by it in Erris, as well as others around Ireland and abroad. Scores of complaints have been made about members of the Garda Síochána to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, but there have been no successful prosecutions so far. This has resulted in a situation where County Mayo, the region with the lowest crime rate in the Republic of Ireland, has the state's highest rate of complaints against the police.
Bellanaboy
After the Rossport Five were jailed in the summer of 2005 for refusing to allow Shell workers access to their lands, supporters blockaded all project works around Kilcommon in protest, forming the Shell to Sea (S2S) campaign. The protesters demanded that the gas be refined offshore (as is done with Ireland's only other producing gas field). These blockades were maintained until October 2006, when hundreds of Gardai used force to remove protesters from in and around the sites. Previous to this, the Gardai had not interfered with the blockades, which stayed in place for fifteen months. The methods used to break the blockades were controversial, and made national TV news in Ireland, even being reported as far away as Australia. Some protesters were hospitalised, and many people accused the police of using dangerous levels of violence. The police were also accused of operating a "no-arrest policy" in order to circumvent the judicial process (this was based on comments made by Superintendent Joe Gannon in an interview in Garda Review, in which he stated: "There were no arrests. That was part of our strategy; we did not want to facilitate anyone down there with a route to martyrdom.")
The police operation succeeded in its goal of breaking the blockades preventing work on the refinery site at Bellanaboy. Work there has continued (with brief pauses occasioned by site occupations and lock-ons) since, and is almost complete. At times, hundreds of police have been deployed on the previously quiet country roads in norhtwest County Mayo to facilitate the project. Many people involved in Shell to Sea also complained of harassment and intimidation from police away from the protests. In May 2007, the Gardai were thanked by Shell executives at their AGM in The Hague for their assistance.
Superintendent Gannon was replaced by Superintendent John Gilligan (formerly of Interpol) after a fracas involving scores of protesters facing off against scores of Gardai and a digger machine in June 2007. Gannon was moved to Pearse Street Garda station in Dublin.
Pobal Chill Chomain
In April 2008, some people involved in S2S left to form another anti-Shell group, Pobal Chill Chomáin. Although this group are seen as more moderate than S2S, they have also complained of surveillance by Gardai.
Glengad
In July 2008, preparatory work for the raw gas pipeline began in Glengad. At a small protest, Naoisin O'Mongain was arrested along with several others, including Willie Corduff. After several hours in Garda custody, O'Mongain was brought to Belmullet hospital. After several months of physiotherapy, O'Mongain no longer needs a wheelchair and can get about on crutches.
The Garda Water Unit was brought in to combat the actions of the Shell to Sea Fleet, which sought to disrupt the Shell works. All Shell's survey boats in Srahwuddacon Bay in Erris were accompanied at all times by several Gardaí in their own boat, when surveying feasible routes for the gas pipeline (see Shell to Sea). In August and September 2008, members of the unit entered the sea and wrestled with Shell to Sea protesters who had been swimming and boating near the Shell compound of Glengad beach . This tactic is unknown in Britain, where for health and safety reasons police always arrest aquatic protesters from their craft.
Under Gilligan's superintendency, the no-arrest policy, which had already begun to ease under Gannon, fell further into disuse. Over forty arrests were made in the summer of 2008. The police called in the Irish Navy to assist them against the protests. Local businessman and fisherman Pat O'Donnell accused the Gardai of selective policing, as they made no answer to his pleas for assistance in defending his private property, crab pots that were in the path of the Solitaire, compared to their enthusiasm for other aspects of law enforcement. Gardai arrested O'Donnell and his son twice in 24 hours from the sea on public order charges, but desisted when their solicitor requested they charge his clients or stop arresting them.
Gilligan was replaced by Superintendent Mick Larkin in the autumn of 2008, and was transferred to the Garda Press Office.