2nd Court appearance for peace activists who attempted to inspect US military jet

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Friday July 22, 2016 16:31 by Shannonwatch info at shannonwatch dot org

Dave Donnellan and Colm Roddy

Both men were arrested at Shannon Airport on May 25th, after entering the airfield, painting anti war markings & slogans on the runway, and then making their way over to a USAF C21 jet, (a 2nd military aircraft, an unmarked special forces C32B had already taken off before the presence of the men was detected by the Army sentries). The men were inside the perimeter walking around with a very large tricolour flag for 40 minutes before they were spotted by the Irish Army, approaching the US Airforce Jet.
They were held for over 24 hours, then brought to Gort where the Judge granted a state application for their bail conditions to ban them from entering County Clare other than for court related matters.
Yesterday they were in Ennis District Court, where they applied for disclosure (copies of statements and other evidence) and a variation on their bail conditions.

On Wednesday, Colm Roddy (74) and Dave Donnellan (56) , both peace activists appeared before Judge Patrick Durcan in Ennis District Court. They represented themselves.

They were told by Inspector Tom Kennedy, prosecuting, that the files had been sent to the DPP only two days previously (which is 54 days after the arrest of the two men).

The accused had written to the Gardaí asking for copies of the statements and evidence, but have yet to receive anything in return.
They made an application for that in court on Wednesday, only to be told to write again to the Gardaí requesting the information.

The men both asked specifically that information about the US military jets at Shannon be included, such as the contact details for the pilots of the aircraft.

The men also asked for the bail conditions to be amended so that they could enter County Clare where they have friends, and business.

The Judge instructed them to write to the Gardaí, even though Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy had just indicated in court that the state would oppose any relaxation of the bail conditions.

For a fuller report, read the court report on ShannonWatch.org