A chara,
I would like to express my outrage and indignation at yesterday’s sentencing to 28 days of Shell to Sea campaigner Maura Harrington. I had the privilege of meeting Maura during her 10-day hunger strike in protest at the construction of the infamous Shell pipeline in Mayo. She has taken a commendable stand against this project on the grounds that it is highly dangerous, will do irreparable environmental damage and will not benefit the Irish people one cent.
Frail Maura was sent to Dublin’s notorious Mountjoy Jail for ‘assaulting a Garda’ and has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment. I myself have witnessed and been on the receiving end of Garda excessive force and thuggish behaviour while protesting peacefully there. Scores of protestors have been injured while not a single member of An Garda Síochána has faced any repercussions.
The gas in the Corrib and associated fields is estimated to be worth up to €50 billion. The Irish government has given our natural resources to Shell and co, and this is what Maura is campaigning against. While the Fianna Fáil/Green Party government bail out their ‘golden circle’ banker friends to the tune of billions, an unprecedented number of people are losing their jobs and their homes. Maura is a brave woman on the side of social justice; it is not her who needs a psychiatric assessment.
Is mise le meas,
Seán Ó Floinn
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