Court

Thursday December 07, 2006 16:01

by Mickey Mantle

VETERAN campaigner Maura Harrington, who has been in the wars over her opposition to the controversial Shell pipeline, fell foul of a different bandwagon yesterday.

VETERAN campaigner Maura Harrington, who has been in the wars over her opposition to the controversial Shell pipeline, fell foul of a different bandwagon yesterday.

The 53-year-old school principal from Geesala was fined a total of €625 arising from a drunken row in a pub over the choice of music being played.

Manager of Tigh Neachtain in Galway city centre, Haldane Briggs, told Galway District Court that on April 21, 2006, a colleague had told him that a lady was causing a disturbance in the front bar.

He identified Mrs Harrington in court and told Judge Mary Fahy she was very intoxicated and he had asked her to leave the premises. She left, but returned shortly afterwards.

Mr Briggs said he again asked her to leave, but this time she refused. Her daughter, who was with her, also refused his request. He told her he would call the gardai and offered to get her a taxi, but she said she would wait for the gardai. Gda Ivan Cunnane said Mrs Harrington refused to give him her name and refused to leave the pub. She was in a highly intoxicated state, he added.

He called for assistance and with the help of another garda, physically removed Mrs Harrington from the pub and into a patrol car parked outside.

``We had to actually carry her out of the pub," he said.

``She was drunk and could have fallen. I arrested her for her own safety," said Gda Cunnane.

Gda Mark O'Sullivan said Mrs Harrington was slouched up against the wall of the pub, while Gda Derek Mullin described her as verbally abusive.

Mrs Harrington said she asked the band to play ``a brace of reels'', but they ignored her.

She became annoyed and asked the band members if it was the case that they couldn't play or wouldn't play the reels.

``I do not believe I was a danger to myself or to others, because I can recall everything that happened. I would flatly refute I was lifted (from the pub). I would admit to being annoyed and contrary, but not drunk to such a stage that I was a danger to myself or to others," she said.

Judge Fahy said she had to accept that Mrs Harrington was drunk and noted her guilty pleas to two other offences

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Comments (4 of 4)

€625 for being drunk?? Outrageous.....

by Indy observer

Sun Dec 10, 2006 00:06

Its an outrageous amount to be fined over a common drunk incident like that. Was she threatening to kill someone? No. Just a bit of harmless fun... The Gardai could have simply removed her from the pub and kept her overnight before letting her go but jaysus, bringing it to court is a very unecessary thing for such a smallscale incident like that. This is the problem with the Gardai in contrast to, for example, the PSNI. If that was in the north, I'm sure she would just be detained overnight and then let go the following morning after being cautioned. But bringing it to court is quite heavy handed.

let he who has not 'sinned'

by supp

Fri Dec 08, 2006 00:39

Kevin Myers' column: Stoking up incitement to violence

On Tuesday 14 November, the Irish Independent columnist Kevin Myers wrote an article that advocated violence against protestors. In the course of his column, he stated that "he wished for more... broken heads".

Most disturbingly, he singled out a local school teacher, Maura Harrington, and called on gardaí to crack her skull. The article specifically urged gardaí to make "bloody sure that the treatment she received at the local hospital was both protracted and thoroughly merited". He referred to Maura Harrington's "cranial tissue" and wished that the local hospital got an "opportunity to practice their seamstress skills" on that tissue.

We find this type of journalism deeply offensive for a number of reasons.

People have every right to protest and whatever discussion there may about the limits to that right, they surely do not include gratuitous recommendations to break people's skulls.

There is a legal process in place for dealing with any complaints against protestors or gardaí and this should not be replaced by an advocacy of brain injury as a form of punishment.

There is also something singularly distasteful in a journalist stoking up an incitement to violence from his rather comfortable desk in the Irish Independent. Advocating more violence at Ballinaboy serves neither the Garda nor the protestors.

Kevin Myers' article falls well below the standards of Irish journalism.

Kieran Allen, John Baker, Noreen Barron, Angela Bourke, Catherine Conlon, Dervila Cooke, Thomond Coogan, Roland Erne, Mary Kelly, Patricia Kennedy, Kathleen Lynch, Mary McCann, Stephen Mennell, Patricia Moloney, Miriam Murphy, Valerie O'Brien, Jeanne Riou, Andrew Smith, Ailbhe Smyth, Jennifer Todd, Theresa Urbainczyk

University College Dublin
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=11&sud=59...=3427

This account of yesterday's Galway proceedings is a straight steal ...

by Tommy Donnellan - Shell to Sea

Thu Dec 07, 2006 22:20

from the Independent and is AWOL from the "Other Press" section.

Fatal blow

by Welden

Thu Dec 07, 2006 20:54

Well, THIS should bring an end to the whole campaign... Maura was asked to leave a pub and was a bit contrary... wow!! Front page of which newspapers tomorrow? C'mon start the betting here...

I find it a bit rich that the guards 'asked her to identify herself' as if there's a garda in Mayo who hasn't been briefed to keep an eye on her.

In my opinion, the judge was very light on her. he should have sentenced her to having a gas terminal built in her neighbourhood, with no oversight, and pollution of her drinking water... oh, wait..., isn't someone else trying to do that already?

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Comments (4 of 4)