Two Shell to Sea Campaigners jailed for Four Months

by Big_Ron Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:59

will post more details as I recieve them about where Niall is going, etc ..

by FSB! Thu Jul 30, 2009 13:26

This is the longest sentence handed out yet as far as I know. It may exceed the 94 days that Shell jailed the Rossport 5 for. In Maura's case, the state just keeps coming back to punish and oppress her and her family, this is her third stretch in jail now. I take it that this is all Mary Devins' doing? I trust that the Solidarity Camp will have a court report posted to Indymedia before long.

by Chrissie Thu Jul 30, 2009 14:59

FF won't succeed in crushing these people! Much love & solidarity to Maura & Niall. See you in Erris!

by old codger - pensioner Thu Jul 30, 2009 15:04

Mary Devins seems to do what she likes with impunity.The jailing of Maura and Niall is a disgrace and an abuse of the judicial system. This Judge has been chalenged on her impartiality but has chosen to ignore the fact that she is the wife of a Fianna Fail minister, the party that is the instigator of the crime that Maura and Niall have been protesting about .
If there is no legal way to remove this biased judge , then we should consider picketing all her court sessions in protest of what she is doing.
Hold your heads high Maura and Niall , like Michael Davitt you are fighting a just cause. He spent some time in jail for his belief in justice for the people and is one of Irelands heroes. you have joined good company
your people and friends thank you for your suffering.

by PRO - éirígí Thu Jul 30, 2009 15:22 press at eirigi dot org

Release Maura Harrington & Niall Harnett

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson has called for the immediate release of Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett and urged people to attend a demonstration at Mountjoy jail, Dublin tonight.

The two Shell to Sea activists were each sentenced to four months in prison today [Thursday] for their roles in the ongoing peaceful opposition to Shell Oil’s project in the Erris area of Mayo.

In response, the Shell to Sea campaign has called a protest at the gates of Mountjoy jail for 6pm this evening, the time Harrington is expected to arrive to commence her incarceration.

Leeson said: “The sentences that Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett today received are part of an ongoing attempt by the Twenty-Six County state to intimidate the Shell the Sea campaign and the residents of north-west Mayo. These attempts will ultimately prove futile.

“Maura and Niall are not guilty of any crime. What they are guilty of is standing up for the safety of the Erris community and demanding that the natural resources of Ireland be used for the benefit of the Irish people. Unfortunately, in today’s Ireland this has become a punishable offence.

“Earlier this month, the Dublin government released a report which recommended sweeping cuts in public services and social care. Today, the same government jailed two people for daring to make the reasonable point that the natural gas off the west coast could be exploited to fund the public purse. Clearly, Fianna Fáil cares more about Shell Oil than it does about Irish citizens.”

Brian continued: “The jailing of Shell to Sea activists and the persecution of the campaign and the Erris community by the state and Shell is wrong and should stop immediately.

“éirígí is encouraging as many people as possible to gather outside Mountjoy jail at 6pm today to demand the immediate release of Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett. As long as they remain incarcerated, they will be a symbol of the Twenty-Six County government’s warped priorities.”
ENDS.

by Sevinch - WSM-Personal Capacity Thu Jul 30, 2009 17:17

Wer do not engage in acts of the opressors. Cops are well able to do it to themselves, abusing their position, abusing the trust of people, taxpayers' money to count a few, they hardly need a bunch 'hippies' and 'radicals' to abuse them poor devils, Shell is having them bent backwards and sideways, that is enough abuse mate. Our interest lie in stopping the abuse of the community, the nature and the our natural resources.

by Andrew Thu Jul 30, 2009 18:19

There are over 25 people gathered so far at the prison waiting the arrival of Maura. It's reported that a large number of guards entered the police station beside the prison just before theprotest. They will probably emerge just before the van arrives

by Andrew Thu Jul 30, 2009 18:34

Now around 50 here the link should be to a very short vido shot 5 minutes ago http://pixelpipe.com/item/a34220a1-e03b-4a86-a53e-bfd39...666d6

by Andrew Thu Jul 30, 2009 18:39

Now just short of 50 people gathered at jail. Link shoul go to photohttp://pixelpipe.com/item/b4a900f6-9005-4ec1-863d-60494...7ff36

by Workers Party Thu Jul 30, 2009 18:53 tedtynan at gmail dot com

WORKERS PARTY CONDEMN JAILING OF ERRIS ACTIVISTS

The Workers’ Party have strongly condemned the jailing today of two leading members of the Shell to Sea Campaign from the Erris Peninsula in County Mayo.

Cork Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan said that the four month sentences against Maura Harrington and Niall Hartnett for their role in a peaceful campaign was an affront to the concept of justice and a vengeful act by the state at the behest of a multinational corporation.

Councillor Tynan, who has been a long time supporter of the Shell to Sea campaign, said that the lengths to which the government, the courts and the gardaí were prepared to go to protect the interests of Shell and its cohorts were incredible.

“The jailing of these two earnest and concerned people, who are trying to stand up for their families and their community against the might of one of the world’s most powerful corporations, must be condemned. The Shell Corporation, which has already got blood on its hands in places such as Nigeria and is prepared to resort to the basest of tactics in the name of profit, has an able and willing ally in a government that can jail two decent people while at the same time using taxpayer’s money to bail out corrupt banks”.

“It is now time for individuals and organisations around Ireland to stand up and be counted and to demand the release of Niall Hartnett and Maura Harrington. An injustice is being committed against them in the name of the Irish people and must be resisted by all those who believe in true justice. I am calling on all those, even within Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, who believe that these jailings are unjust to come out and to say so loudly”, said Cllr. Tynan.

Cllr. Tynan recently tabled a motion on Cork City Council in support of the Shell to Sea campaign, which was narrowly defeated (10 votes to 11 against).

by Andrew Thu Jul 30, 2009 19:07

Now just short of 50 people gathered at jail. Link shoul go to photohttp://pixelpipe.com/item/b4a900f6-9005-4ec1-863d-60494...7ff36

There is more viideo at http://pixelpipe.com/item/46d9339d-2e60-4fa2-b925-35dfa...346d1

by RSC Thu Jul 30, 2009 19:11

Niall Harnett was also convicted on a second charge, for which he got a further 4 month sentence, equalling a total of 8 months.

The State is a limp lackey to Shell in trying to force this project through - but they won't succeed.

by Raymond Thu Jul 30, 2009 20:08

The oil and gas reserves of ours in the Atlantic are probably the ONLY chance we have (as a Nation) -- or EVER will have -- of getting out of the almighty financial mess our too-clever-by-half "public servants" have got us into: and now they compound their grossly arrogant and incompetent wrongdoing by jailing two people who have fought long and hard to try and ensure that these extremely important assets of ours are not stolen from us (in effect); and, as if to really "rub it in", processed in avoidably very dangerous ways for some of our citizens.

There has to be something very rotten in the State of the Republic of Ireland?

I've often found myself wondering if there might be a touch of some very efficient form of blackmail taking place somewhere: not because I've got any tangible evidence whatsoever of anything of that kind taking place, but because (try as I might) I cannot otherwise explain to myself how such frightening abuse of Shell To Sea protestors can still be happening at the hands of our "public servants" (so called).

I rest my case, M'Lud!

by Andrew Thu Jul 30, 2009 20:40

Apologies, the second video can be found at http://pixelpipe.com/item/f5219cdf-0874-41ce-8fd9-8c17d...1638e or on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5LQ4GwRFWA

Caption: Video Id: c5LQ4GwRFWA Type: Youtube Video
Shell

by erris exile Thu Jul 30, 2009 20:41

I would love to think that the masses would be angered at what has happened in ireland.
However, they're too busy making a joke about what has happened in this country to care.
The majority of people in this country are still too concerned with keeping up with the jones' even though they're broke too.
I wish that the people of this country would wake up and use their brains for just a second instead of taking the same lies from the media in this country. If a headline were to appear in the independent tomorrow stating that shell to sea had connections with those responsible for 9/11, then many of the idiots in this country would believe it.
Unfortunately that is what you are up against in trying to get the truth to people.
I pray that someday soon i am proven wrong but i won't hold my breath. Romantic Ireland is dead and gone, it's with O'Leary in the grave.

Fair play to Maura and Niall, your unwavering spirit is a credit to you.

by Damien Thu Jul 30, 2009 22:38

Sevinch, yes it makes me feel great. Each and any of these cops could have refused to provide services today. The fact they stand their arms folded dreaming of their overtime, whilst the county goes down the pan is a disgrace

by Fred Johnston Sat Aug 01, 2009 18:00

. . . rogue bankers chomp on their cigars and no one, as always, seems to care. We have become so damned complacent. We are unable even to imagine a State that supports or cares about ordinary people's rights and hopes. What's happening in Erris - the Irish Navy being brought in to protect the Shell project is beyond scandalous - is merely another symptom of the Government's separation, quite wilful, from the people.

by pat c Sat Aug 01, 2009 18:10

The State is there to protect rogue bankers. Just last week Seanie Fitzpatrick was given an order by the courts to evict a tenant from ONE of his houses. Was this another banker who was greedily refusing to pay the rent? No! It was a social welfare recipient who had lost their entitlement to payment.

Let no one be any doubt: the full resources of the State are being turned both on those who fight back and those who are helples like Seanies tenant.

Do the Garda ever muse about the Snip report? The cutting of their allowances? The cutting of their pay? Are they happy to continue letting themselves be used as mercenaries of Shell?

by Yaeger Sat Aug 01, 2009 19:55

Go after the judges who handed down these sentences and the representatives of the corrupt establishment parties who appointed these judges in the first place. These thugs should be driven out of the community.

by Gerard Sat Aug 01, 2009 21:33

The cowardly thugs of judges who do this kind of thing, without a jury of course, should driven out of the normal community and into the prison community.

by Mayoman Sun Aug 02, 2009 01:38

Any protests by unions about Board Snip should exclude the gardai given their willing particiapation
in the theft of Irelands Natural resources.