This article is from page 10 of the 2014-01-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
ENNIS District Court was disrupted for periods last week after a man suspected of recording court proceedings was taken into custody.
The disturbances occurred as jailed peace activist Margaretta D’Arcy (79) appeared in court charged with interfering with the proper use of Shannon Airport by going on the runway without permission in September 2013.
The veteran anti-war campaigner and playwright was arrested and brought to Limerick women’s prison earlier this month after failing to sign a court bond forbidding her from entering areas of Shannon Airport unauthorised to the public.
Dozens of supporters were present in Ennis Courthouse for her brief appearance on Wednesday.
At the conclusion of Ms D’Arcy’s hearing, four supporters were escorted from the courtroom. Some had attempted to hold up posters.
Mayo woman, Maura Harrington, a member of the Shell to Sea protest group, shouted, “Free Shannon Airport from the US military.” Gardaí immediately removed Ms Harrington from court.
Minutes later, Judge Patrick Durcan said it had been brought to his atten- tion that an individual had attempted to record proceedings in court. He asked gardaí to take appropriate steps to deal with the matter.
Sgt Paul Slattery, of Ennis Garda Station, later gave evidence that he had been told a man attempted to record court proceedings with his phone. Sgt Slattery said that when approached, the man told gardaí he was checking emails.
He said the man would not give his full name to gardaí. Judge Durcan directed the gardaí to ascertain man’s identity. He was later identified as Naoise Ó Mongáin, Maura Harrington’s husband.
Judge Durcan later ordered that Ms Harrington and Mr Ó Mongáin to be taken down to the cells. He said those responsible for the disturbances had shown “total disrespect to other citizens”. “It’s becoming impossible here”, added Judge Durcan.
Later, when a number of people were not present in court when their cases were called, Judge Durcan said, “There has been so much disturbance in court today that a number of people have left the courtroom out of fear.”
Inspector Tom Kennedy said, “I’ve never been in a court where there was so much disruption in one day.”
After 3.30pm, Judge Durcan ordered that the couple be brought up separately to court.
Judge Durcan told Mr Ó Mongáin that he did disrupt proceedings earlier, but that he was free to go.
Judge Durcan said gardaí could investigate if Mr O’Mongain’s phone was used to record the court. However he asked that this be carried out as quickly as possible as Mr Ó Mongáin was entitled to have his phone.
He then told Ms Harrington her time in custody “fairly balances out what occurred earlier”. He told Ms Harrington he appreciated she was coming to the aid of her husband in court.
Judge Durcan said: “I regard the matter as terminated.”