Joe Higgins to Noel Dempsey in July 2005. Western People
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Does [the Minister] not find it extraordinary that the High Court is giving every benefit to a major corporation over the small people of Mayo? Is it not incredible that a full hearing of the issues of concern to the people of Mayo will be heard in the autumn, probably in October? In the meantime, the company is allowed to proceed and put everything in place with the like-minded reminder from the High Court that the pipes will have to be taken out again if the decision goes against Shell...Why is Shell so bullish and confident that it will get its pipeline come what may? Has it been secretly assured by the Minister, his predecessor, the Government or Fianna Fáil that it will get its gas in the way it wants regardless of the genuine fears and concerns of decent local people? Has the Government not fallen over itself on every occasion to facilitate this company?

— Joe Higgins

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Does [the Minister] not find it extraordinary that the High Court is giving every benefit to a major corporation over the small people of Mayo? Is it not incredible that a full hearing of the issues of concern to the people of Mayo will be heard in the autumn, probably in October? In the meantime, the company is allowed to proceed and put everything in place with the like-minded reminder from the High Court that the pipes will have to be taken out again if the decision goes against Shell...Why is Shell so bullish and confident that it will get its pipeline come what may? Has it been secretly assured by the Minister, his predecessor, the Government or Fianna Fáil that it will get its gas in the way it wants regardless of the genuine fears and concerns of decent local people? Has the Government not fallen over itself on every occasion to facilitate this company?" in the context of "Joe Higgins to Noel Dempsey in July 2005. Western People" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Joe Higgins" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Joe Higgins

About Joe Higgins

Joe Higgins (born 1 May 1949) is an Irish Socialist Party politician. He was the sole Socialist Party Teachta Dála from 1997 to 2007, representing the Dublin West constituency. He was elected as an MEP for the Dublin constituency at the 2009 European Parliament elections. He was re-elected to Dáil Éireann in 2011.