Gardaí are treating as suspicious, a fire which caused several thousand euro worth of damage to materials being used by contractors working on the controversial Corrib Gas terminal, Bellanaboy, near Belmullet, Co Mayo.
Garda technical experts and crime scene detectives have spent the day examining the storage compound where the fire brokeout shortly before 9pm last night.
Over 100 large timber mats which are used to construct temporary roads through bogland around the refinery site were destroyed in the three-hour blaze.
The timber was stacked in a roadside compound at Aughoose, about 1.5km from the terminal boundary.
The fire, which occurred on forest land owned by Coillte, also destroyed a number of large plastic pipes.
Gardaí say a wide ranging investigation into the blaze is continuing but no arrests have been made so far.
Three units of the Mayo fire service, assisted by Shell contractors using a mechanical digger, succeeded in bringing the blaze under control before midnight.
Shell Ireland, which is building a €200m gas refinery on the Co Mayo site, said the fire did not appear to be accidental and it deplored the damage which had been caused.
Shell To Sea says it condemns 'without reservation the apparent criminal damage to materials at the former site of the deconstructed pipeline, as well as the ongoing breaches of ministerial consents at the Glengad Special Area of Conservation'
