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The Corrib gas project of Royal Dutch Shell, StatoilHydro and Marathon Oil has generated opposition from people who will be directly affected by it in Erris, as well as others from around Ireland and abroad. Protests and actions against the project has created a situation which has necessitated a large Garda presence at sites related to the project. Complaints from protesters arising from the policing of these protest have been made about members of the Garda Síochána to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, none of which have been upheld. 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 Gardaí.
Bellanaboy
After the Rossport Five were jailed in the summer of 2005 for contempt of court the Shell to Sea campaign was formed, blockading the refinery site at Bellanaboy until October 2006, when Gardaí used force to remove protesters from in and around the sites. The protests made national TV news in Ireland as protesters were admitted to hospital, and the Gardaí were accused of using excessive force. Gardaí were said to to have operated a "no arrest" policy. This was based on comments made by Superintendent in charge of the operation, 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 Garda operation succeeded in stopping the blockades from preventing work on the refinery site at Bellanaboy. Work there has continued with brief pauses occasioned by site occupations and lock-ons). At times, hundreds of Gardaí have been deployed to facilitate the project. 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) in June 2007.
Glengad
In July 2008, preparatory work for the raw gas pipeline began in Glengad. Under Gilligan's superintendency, the no-arrest policy ceased to operate with over forty arrests made in the summer of 2008. The Irish Navy were brought in to provide assistance in dealing with protests on water. Local businessman and fisherman Pat O'Donnell accused the Gardai of selective policing, alleging that they made no answer to call for assistance in defending his private property, crab pots that were in the path of the pipe laying vessel, Solitaire. Gardai arrested O'Donnell and his son twice in a 24 hour period from the sea on public order charges, but desisted when their solicitor requested they charge his clients or stop arresting them.
The Garda Water Unit were used to manage the actions of water based protesters , who sought to disrupt the Shell works. 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. In August and September 2008, members of the unit entered the sea to confront Shell to Sea members who had been carrying out a water based protest near the Shell compound of Glengad beach. .
Superintendent Gilligan was replaced by Superintendent Mick Larkin in the autumn of 2008 transferring to the Garda Press Office.
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By September 2008, the cost of the operation was €10 Million and is estimated to have cost €13.5 Million by the end of January 2009 . This is comparable to the €20 Million budgeted for Operation Anvil, the operation targeting organised crime, criminal gangs and their associates .