Five men from Co Mayo have been sent to prison after the High Court found them to be in breach of court orders preventing them obstructing the building of a gas pipeline owned by Shell.
Sending the men to prison, Mr Justice McMenamin said the men could not take the law into their own hands.
The judge said the men had indicated that they had obstructed the construction and would continue to obstruct it. He said he had no alternative but to commit them to prison until they purged their contempt.
Council on behalf of Shell, Mr Pat Hanratty, said it was with great regret that the company had taken this step.
Shell, which wants to build the pipeline from the offshore Corrib gas field, had sought committal of the men to prison for their refusal to obey two injunctions preventing them from obstructing work.
Four of the five men had been obstructing pipeline construction work on some of their own lands.
Following today's High Court decision, the five men, Philip McGrath, Willie Corduff, Vincent McGrath, James Brendan Philbin and Michael O'Seighin, were taken to the Bridewell Garda Station.
Caitlin O'Seighin, Mr O'Seighin's wife, said she was very proud of her husband for standing up for what was right.
Willie Corduff said he was devastated. He said the men were being put in jail for trying to protect the health of their families.
The Mayo Independent TD, Dr Jerry Cowley, who was in court, said it was a scandal that the five were going to prison.
He said the community near Rossport, Co Mayo, was living in mortal fear because of safety concerns over the pipeline.
This morning, Mr Justice Finnegan gave them some time to consider but all five refused to give assurances that they would not obstruct construction work in the future.
