Maura Harrington Released On Emergency Budget
Day
national | miscellaneous |
press release
Tuesday April 07, 2009 17:28
by Dublin Shell To Sea
Shell to Sea campaigner, Maura
Harrington was released from Mountjoy Women’s Prison this morning after
serving 28 days. Maura had been imprisoned for allegedly slapping a
member of Garda Siochana, a charge which she denies.
Maura
proceeded from Mountjoy Women’s Prison to Dail Eireann, where she was
accompanied into the Dail by Aengus O Snodaigh TD and Martin Ferris TD.
Maura met with press outside Dail Eireann where an impromptu press
conference had been called.
Maura called for an end to the gas give
away: “Our pension fund was given to bail out the banks, and we now
stand to gain nothing from our own natural gas and oil resources. The
government is putting pressure on the people of Ireland today with this
new Budget, but the oil and gas companies are feeling no
pressure.”
MAURA HARRINGTON RELEASED ON EMERGENCY BUDGET
DAY
Shell to Sea campaigner, Maura Harrington was released from
Mountjoy Women’s Prison this morning after serving 28 days. Maura had been
imprisoned for allegedly slapping a member of Garda Siochana, a charge
which she denies.
Maura proceeded from Mountjoy Women’s Prison to
Dail Eireann, where she was accompanied into the Dail by Aengus O Snodaigh
TD and Martin Ferris TD. Maura met with press outside Dail Eireann where
an impromptu press conference had been called.
Maura called for an end
to the gas give away: “Our pension fund was given to bail out the banks,
and we now stand to gain nothing from our own natural gas and oil
resources. The government is putting pressure on the people of Ireland
today with this new Budget, but the oil and gas companies are feeling no
pressure.”
Speaking at a Shell to Sea press conference in November
2006, then Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said "The root cause of this
problem goes right back to the way in which the giveaway deals were done
for exploration licences and it is comparable, in historic terms, with the
Act of Union of 1800, in the way a dodgy deal can be made to look
legitimate," Sargent said in 2006.
Meanwhile, there is a growing
public awareness of the scale of the giveaway of Irish gas and oil by the
Government, of which Sargent is now a member. Based on Government figures
for the estimated size of Ireland's gas and oil reserves, something in the
region of €540 billion worth of our natural resources will be given away
to multinational companies over the coming years. This giveaway arises due
to legislative changes made by ministers Ray Burke in 1987 and Bertie
Ahern in 1992.
“The oil and gas companies do not have to pay any
royalties and all taxes are cost deductible. This is an insane situation
on a day when the Irish Government is trying to claw back 3.5 billion euro
in an emergency budget which cuts essential public services. To add
further insult to the people of Ireland, not only will we not gain
monetarily in any way from our own gas and oil resources, we will have to
bid on the international market for this oil and gas. We have no security
of supply despite Shells assertions to the contrary.” Caoimhe Kerins of
Dublin Shell to Sea said.
Maura Harrington vowed to continue in
the local community’s struggle against the Corrib Gas Project. “Glengad
beach and the Glengad area are not available to Shell. They never will be.
Shell can come and they can fight. They have been trying to get rid of us
for ten years. We are not going anywhere.”
On Monday 6th April
Naoise O’ Mongain, Maura’s husband and local fisherman, Pat O’ Donnell
traveled to London where they read out a statement from Maura Harrington
at an international human rights event which included representatives of
Amnesty International, EarthRights International, the U.S. Center for
Constitutional Rights and Greenpeace. Harrington had been invited to
attend but was unable to due to her imprisonment.
The event, at the
Amnesty International Centre in London, was intended to highlight a court
case in New York next month, in which Shell and one of its senior
executives are to face charges relating to their complicity in the
execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other anti-Shell activists in
November
1995.
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/05/shell-saro-wiwa-execution-charges
Maura
Harrington
Maura Harrington, former principal of Inver National
School, close to Shell's refinery site, has been a prominent member of the
campaign against the proposed inland refinery and high-pressure pipeline.
The campaign began in November 2000. It adopted the name Shell to Sea in
January 2005.
Harrington has just served two weeks in Mountjoy
Prison for allegedly slapping a garda in the face in June 2007. She denied
the charge, but declined to offer a defense after Judge Mary Devins
refused to allow video evidence of the incident in June 2007 to be shown
in court.
On the occasion in question, on 11th June 2007, 20 local
people were injured by gardai when Shell contractors attempted to force
their way onto private land with a digger. Several needed hospital
treatment. Shell subsequently conceded publicly they were in the wrong in
trying to access the private land of Paddy McGrath. However, no action has
been taken against gardai involved in the violence on that day.
Local campaigners have brought hundreds of complaints to the Garda
Ombudsman Commission relating to the policing of protests at Shell's
refinery site. These detail incidents of punching, kicking,
finger-breaking, throwing into ditches, verbal abuse and harassment.
ENDS
FOR VERIFICATION, COMMENT OR MORE INFO,
CONTACT:
* Maura Harrington, 087 9591474
* Caoimhe Kerins 085
8328130
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Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1It's time the arrogant "ruling elite" parasites were brought down off their high horses, and shown very clearly that the law is not just for them to do as they please with.
We are all expected to abide by the law on the clear understanding that we will ALL be SERVED by the law as well.
Enough is enough.
"The hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, that it had its head bitten off by its young":
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=King+Lear%2C+Cuckoo%2C+Sparrow%2C+Young&btnG=Search
Well done Maura and long may you be able to stand up for your rights, and for the rights of all others as well.
After 28 days in jail Maura Harrington is welcomed home to Erris
At around 10.30pm on tuesday night, Maura Harington was met by dozens of supporters in Ballina as she returned to Erris after 28 days in prison. Over 60 cars then drove in convoy, bringing Maura home. The continuing strength of the local campaign was clearly demonstrated as the cavalcade drove through local towns. The rally ended at Glengad, at the site where Shell built their compound last year when they failed to carry out pipe laying work. Before people dispersed, Maura spoke to the crowd of people, "Glengad belongs to us....It is all of us here together who will hold this, and hold it for as long as it takes. We've held it for 10 years. They did their damnedest last year, they will do their damnedest again this year. We held them last year; we have to hold them this year.... This is worth fighting for. This is worth doing anything it takes." YOUTUBE video to follow
Current developments (on a range of fronts) seem to clearly suggest -- beyond all doubt -- that our "public servants" need to be watched much, much more carefully: and directly confronted by the public much more quickly, and by all lawful means, the moment wrongdoing is suspected.
The price of freedom (from tyranny) is eternal vigilance:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=The+price+of+freedom+%28from+tyranny%29+is+eternal+vigilance&btnG=Search
" There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries "
Or as Bob the Builder & some other fella sez: 'Yes - we can!'
This is the time to be rid of the corrupt, incompetent gombeens who sold the birthright of the people of Ireland.
Congratulations and thanks Maura -- for a job really well done.
"This giveaway arises due to legislative changes made by ministers Ray Burke in 1987 and Bertie Ahern in 1992" (from above).
Has anybody looked at the legislation in question?
With Article 10 of Bunreacht na hEireann (Constitution of the Republic of Ireland) in mind, the chances are the legislation in question is unconstitutional; and, if it is, it can be permanently filed away in the rubbish bin marked "Illegal Law".
In theory at least, and provided that the "possibly impossible" (at present) task of finding a few non-corrupt Republic of Ireland lawyers who have what it takes to responsibly engage in the process, facilities do already exist for checking the constitutionality of all of the legislation that has been produced at the hands of the three main branches of our Government (i.e. Executive, Legislative, Judicial) - please see at:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/irish-constitution-1/unconstitutional_legislation_and_decisions
While peaceful and lawful public protests of all kinds appear to be essential (and hugely helpful) in regard to this extremely important matter of our large (possibly vast?) gas and oil reserves, I fail to see how they will EVER be enough on their own; and, that unless the flawed legislation is identified, successfully challenged, and rooted out, our "courts of law" (so called) will always succeed (eventually) in bullying the protesters into submission: and if necessary they will so with the help of the guards (police), the army, the navy, the air force and so on -- while arrogantly but falsely asserting that "the law is the law is the law".
See also "State Tyranny, and the role played by unconstitutional legislation":
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=State+Tyranny%2C+and+the+role+played+by+unconstitutional+legislation&btnG=Search
one more ..
Some pics of the press conference and demo at Corrib house ($hell HQ)
Welcome Home Maura good to have you back.
You did the time, and now they must pay for their crime.
Shell to Sea.
Maura for Taoiseach.
A warm welcome home Maura and warmest solidarity to all comrades and concerned citizens who are battling this project.
I've been off side for a while with domestic issues, but am trying to raise what I see as the centrality of advertising the websites on the streets, and other public areas, using posters, stickers, etc. It is if you like, it's an old fashioned way of flagging up internet use, to counter State /Corporate media misinformation and general mushroom treatment on this vital issue.
PS: I wonder did that public servant 'Judge' Mary Devins have one eye on her diary, or did she have her eye directed to the diary to effect a release date that would coincide with 'Emergency Budget Day'.
A bad mind some people have, after all we have a constitutional seperation of powers.
Aint that a 'cornerstone' of our ahem, constitutional framework ? Yeah Right !
Solidarity to all.