VIGILANTE BEHAVIOUR and camera reconnaissance by “private armies” in the Corrib gas dispute will not be tolerated, Judge Raymond Groarke insisted yesterday at a sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court in Castlebar.
After hearing evidence in a number of cases involving two prominent Shell to Sea activists, Maura Harrington (56) and Terence Conway (50), Judge Groarke claimed Ms Harrington had been involved in vigilante-type activity enforcing the law she believed in.
To all intents and purposes Ms Harrington and her supporters were acting like secret police, the judge stated, “chasing after people trying to stop them”.
Later in a case against Mr Conway, the judge referred to the fact that the accused had been filming at the Shell compound in Glengad, Pollathomas, where gas from the Corrib field is to come ashore.
“There are no circumstances in which reconnaissance by private armies will be tolerated,” the judge stated.
Both Ms Harrington, from Doohoma, Erris, who described herself in court yesterday as “a specialist” due to her 10-year campaign of opposition to the onshore Corrib Gas terminal, and Mr Conway, who lives at Inver, Belmullet, lodged appeals against convictions and jail sentences arising from protests against the gas project since 2008.
Ms Harrington, a retired primary school principal, described herself as a citizen who unfortunately felt abandoned by the State ever since a large police presence appeared in Erris in 2006 as a result of the Corrib gas campaign.
She added there was a “degree of societal dysfunction in Erris where Shell contractors and supporters are given a degree of impunity not given to those who are trying to exercise their rights.”
Judge Groarke, responding to Ms Harrington’s remarks, said he recognised the right of communities to protest where they perceive unfairness, wrongdoing or inequality was being caused them.
Judge Groarke disqualified Ms Harrington from driving for two years and fined her €200 for an incident at Glengad when she blocked the entrance to the Shell compound with her car.
He adjourned for a year sentencing on other cases relating to trespass and causing criminal damage to a net on a cliff face at Glengad.
Ms Harrington, through her counsel Leo Mulrooney, had earlier indicated to the court she would not consent to any order for community service the court might impose on her nor would she sign a bond to keep the peace.
Mr Conway successfully appealed a conviction in the District Court for leaving the scene of an incident at the Shell compound in Glengad. Two security personnel employed by IRMS on the Shell site were injured when Mr Conway drove his car into the compound on September 27th, 2008.