Dublin Shell to Sea

SIR – It’s interesting to note that Mr Brendan Cafferty has finally summoned up the courage to peep over the parapet after the credibility of his beloved Corrib gas project was utterly and comprehensively destroyed by An Bord Pleanála’s decision of last October.

Eoin O'Leidhin has joined fisherman Pat 'the Chief' O'Donnell at Castlerea prison today. Eoin was convicted of Section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 for 'failure to comply with the directions of Garda' at a protest outside the Shell site Glengad on 30th August 2008.

Garda Sean Cunnane, who likes to ham it up as he whinges to the courts, convinced Judge David Anderson that Eoin's behaviour was a crime.

The shirt video below shows the true flavour of the occasion.

Today in Castlebar circuit court, appeals involving Shell to Sea campaigners were concluded or deferred, with no further prison sentences being handed out. This follows the jailing yesterday of local fisherman Pat O’Donnell.
 
Terence Conway - who had faced a driving ban of four years for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident – was acquitted.

This afternoon in Castlebar Circuit Court, Shell to Sea campaigner and local fisherman Pat O Donnell (52) was sentenced to 7 months in jail after being found guilty of an alleged “breach of the peace” and allegedly "obstructing a Garda".
 

FISHERMAN JAILED FOR 7 MONTHS FOR OPPOSING SHELL’S INLAND REFINERY
Campaigners still being criminalised despite vindication by An Bord Pleanála
Erris fisherman and prominent Shell to Sea campaigner Pat O’Donnell (52) has been jailed for a total of seven months after losing his appeals against convictions for an alleged "breach of the peace" and allegedly "obstructing a garda". The sentences were handed down at a Circuit Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar.

 A FORMER garda and human rights observer has said Garda handling of the Corrib gas project security had been an “anathema to the spirit of community policing”.
Benny McCabe, a former Garda sergeant, was responding yesterday to comments made by the former head of the Garda Mayo division, retired chief superintendent Tony McNamara.

 This week a rather unusal and unexpected debate has been ongoing in the Irish Times here and here between two retired Gardaí concerning the policing of protests concerning the Corrib gas line.

Cristian Domínguez, the Secretary of Defence of Natural Resources and the Environment section of the Bolivian Confederation of Peasant Workers (CSUTCB), will today be handing in a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs requesting a full investigation by the Irish Government into the involvement of Irish security company, IRMS, with right wing mercenary elements in eastern Europe, and antigovernment paramilitary forces operating in Bolivia.

On the 9th of September  in Belmullet District court, Maura Harrington was jailed for the fourth time this year over her opposition to Shell's plans in Mayo. Judge Mary Devins sentenced Ms Harrington to 3 months in jail for assaulting an employee of IRMS, and 3 months for trespassing in a farmyard close to the landfall site in Glengad on June 19 2008. Ms Harrington was also fined a total of €1000.

In Bellmullet court on Thursday, five Shell to Sea protesters were up for hearings on charges ranging from last August 2008 to this June 2009. Judge Anderson dismissed several charges on technical points but was very harsh in serving two of the campaigners with four and eight month prison  sentences