Retired teacher Maura Harrington jailed for 4th time this year over opposition to Shell refinery

by Andrew Wed Sep 09, 2009 23:16

As has unfortuantely become traditional there was a solidarity picket on Mountjoy this evening as yet another Shell to Sea campaigner was jailed for standing up to Shell and exposing the great oil and gas giveaway

by Eamonn O'Coilea'in - Republic of IRELAND Thu Sep 10, 2009 03:58

My family was sadden again at your jailing for the fourth time, when will it stop : You are very brave and should not be there for standing up for the health and safety of our community, our thougths and prays at this time of great need for perople around the country to really see all the injustice that has come down on the people of Erris. We hope your released s00n..

by li'l lulu Thu Sep 10, 2009 09:48

Same address for postcards, etc.,? Rossport people are always in our thoughts & prayers. Justice demands that Shell, IRMS & Fianna Fáil face the consequences of their doings.

by Iona Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:25

Despite all the difficulties, and all the extremely negative consequences for the Shell protestors at the present time (particularly Maura Harrington and her family), it seems to me that at least one good thing is coming out of it all: which is that all the long-running criminal corruption and thuggery that our "ruling elites" are indulging themselves in, and vigorously and successfully sustaining thanks to impunity, is slowly but surely coming out into the open where more and more decent people can see it.

"Considering that the duty of every State under international law to respect and to secure respect for human rights requires that effective measures should be taken to combat impunity, ..." (From document titled "Updated Set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity" at http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/impu/principles.html   )

Unfortunately, it seems to me there is no wish or inclination -- WHATSOEVER -- at the present time for our "elected representatives", or our legal profession, to responsibly address the extremely serious and nasty issue of impunity (which appears to have a global "wing-span" to it): even though some serious and very public attempts have been made to try and bring this crucially important matter to their attention, as can be seen at the following address: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/PresidentBarackObama/14March2009/Email.htm
 

by Sara Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:27

Maura Harrington is in jail because of Ireland's reluctance to ratify the Aarhus Convention
which they signed up to on 25th June 1998. Forty countries have already ratified.
The Aarhus convention links human and environmental rights, this would give Maura
Harrington equality before the law. I will be voting no to Lisbon Treaty for the second time
because of this.

www.unece.org/env/pp/ctreaty.htm

by W. Finnerty Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:11

You may wish to know that help was sought from local MEP Jim Higgins regarding what I have long seen as the grossly corrupt and totally unconstitutional situation connected with the Republic of Ireland's signing of the United Nations Aarhus Convention Agreement in 1998 (which is STILL not ratified).

A copy of Jim Higgins's e-mail to me (dated November 30th 2004) can be seen at the following address: http://www.constitutionofireland.com/SenatorJimHigginsMEP.htm

Many other politicians, lawyers, broadcasters, and so on, were also informed about the "Aarhus" situation at around the same time. For details please see the e-mail at: http://www.finnachta.com/Hotmail6Nov2004/AarhusAgreementWhy.htm 

Shortly after sending the set of e-mails at the above addresses, I had to flee the country (in haste on December 7th 2004) to avoid being maliciously criminalised through corrupt means in Loughrea District Court (County Galway).

by the digger Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:34

After being charged with assault you chose to flee rather than defend the case and take your medicine if found guilty.

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by W. Finnerty Thu Sep 10, 2009 14:19

Though I try to avoid responding to people who write statements of the kind you have written (at Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:34), while hiding behind a pseudonym which places you in a position to make any number of false and misleading statements without having to take ANY responsibility whatsoever for them, the issues involved -- the "oil and gas giveaway" and the "banking crisis" for example -- are now growing so extremely serious (for the whole Nation) that I am nevertheless prepared to engage with you (within reason) at this particular time.

You write as though you know a lot about my case, and in order for me to engage with you in any kind of worthwhile way (should you wish to continue participating that is), I feel I need to try and find out more about the factual information available to you regarding my case.

To begin with, I would like to know if you are aware that I am still waiting for a reply to the registered letter I sent to John Glynn (Barrister and Principle Lawyer at Patrick Hogan & Company, Ballinasloe, County Galway) on April 3rd 2007?

The text of the letter in question (which, please note, was copied to former Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Justice Michael McDowell), together with a copy of the associated Post Office receipt, can be viewed at the following address: http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.com/JohnGlynn3April2007/EmailLetter.htm

Some weeks later, concerned relatives of mine sent another closely related registered letter Mr Glynn on May 14th 2007, and a copy of that particular letter (and the associated Post Office receipt) can be viewed at  http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.com/JohnGlynn14May2007/Letter.htm

As you appear to know so much about my case, please note that myself, my brother, and my half-sister, would all be extremely grateful to you if you could please let us have some good reason as to why you think Mr Glynn is failing to reply to the two letters referred to above? -- even to the extent that we have never even received any acknowledgement of receipt from him for either of the two REGISTERED letters in question???

Although you may already know this of course, it may also be worth pointing out (for the benefit of other readers) that Patrick Hogan & Co have been our family lawyers since sometime around 1937, and that all of the legal deeds connected with our three separate homes (all fully paid for) have been lodged with Patrick Hogan & Co for many years.

I look forward to any truthful, meaningful, and responsible answers you might be able to provide me with regarding the questions I have raised above.

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Seems simple to me.
by the digger Thu Sep 10, 2009 14:53

You were charged with assaulting a local authority official.

Instead of defending the charge you fled the Jurisdiction.

You complain that you cannot get meaningful legal advice.

Such advice you have received you are not in agreement with.

You seem to only want advice that would support your notion that you are being pserescuted for speaking out about a dump close to where you used to live.

You seem to suffer from a persecution complex and have a fixation with vast legal conspiracies desigend to deny you your "rights".

Stop me if this is sounding familiar.

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 by W. Finnerty. Thu Sep 10, 2009 19:37

1) You have failed completely to make any attempt to respond to the extremely important and irrefutable facts relating to the rampant corruption in our legal profession (particularly in relation to the core issue of impunity) which I have presented you with in my earlier reply to you at Thu Sep 10, 2009 14:19. I see this total avoidance as very unreasonable of you, and indeed very irresponsible as well -- in the sense that rather than facing up to the extremely serious and important social problems concerned, and trying to tackle them with a view to resolving them by peaceful and lawful means, you apparently wish instead to pretend they don't exist, or, at the very least, that they are not worthy of your consideration.

2) I have had a fairly large number of very general discussions regarding my situation with Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Anne Jeffers and Clinical Psychologist Niamh Gralton (a member of Dr Jeffers's Team) during the past few months, and neither of them have ever commented in anything remotely like the way you are commenting: even though they both have full access to all the facts (known to me) relating to my case. You may wish to note, assuming you don't already know this, whoever you are, that both Dr Jeffers and Ms Gralton work for the Galway Mental Health Service, and that both of them have been provided by me (months ago and by hand) with the basic United Nation information on impunity referred to elsewhere in this article. In the case of Dr Jeffers, she has also been informed on a number of occasions by e-mail (and registered letters) about the range of ways in which impunity is damaging our society -- as can be verified via the following link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Dr+Jeffers+%28Consultant+Psychiatrist%29%2C+Impunity%3A&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

3) Neither Dr Jeffers nor Ms Gralton have ever at any stage suggested to me that I am not (as I have long believed) desperately in need of good quality (i.e. non-corrupted) professional legal help in connection with the growing consequences for me of all the outrageous corruption in the legal profession I am attempting to deal with. What they have both done on numerous occasions though is to inform me that they cannot provide me with any practical assistance whatsoever to actually  FIND  the legal help which they both seem to fully accept I really do need: simply because they are not allowed to do so (as I understand it). Instead, and again as I understand their situation from the way Dr Jeffers and Ms Gralton have both explained it to me, they are both strictly restricted to providing me with the medical help I need to COPE with the ongoing psychological abuse I'm being subjected to by our legal profession; and, that they cannot (under any circumstances apparently) do anything whatsoever it seems that would help me to actually SOLVE (and thereby END) the long and growing string of legal problems (and abuse) in question: for the purpose of achieving the long-awaited "CLOSURE" (i.e. "Right to Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence" etcetera (as outlined in United Nations literature) (backup copy) I am now very badly in need of. In other words, it appears that the full membership of our medical profession is being powerfully controlled in a manner which ensures that all the vicious and vile impunity that is at present running wild in our society cannot be challenged (in ANY way) by any of their members: regardless of the amount of psychological and/or financial injury it might be causing their patients.

5) Finally, and with reference to the legal choices I have made (which you seem to enjoy referring to), I believe they have all been thoughtful and responsible: particularly regarding my absolute and total refusal to attend a kangaroo court in Loughrea (County Galway) which I had very good reason to believe fully intended to maliciously criminalise me by corrupt means (and possibly imprison me as well), largely for the purpose of sustaining the impunity our society is at present  red-rotten  with. If I was to voluntarily engage with the kangaroo court in Loughrea, either in 2002 or in 2004, I would have automatically given credibility to it: which I continue to strongly believe would have been a totally irresponsible thing for me to do (knowing what I did at the time).