Upcoming Events

National | Crime and Justice

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting Wed Dec 25, 2024 16:00 | James Alexander
Politics professor James Alexander has compiled a compendium of amusing laws ? Murphy's Law, Parkinson's Law and Cole's Law (thinly sliced cabbage) ? to give you a break from making polite conversation with your relatives.
The post Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Warm Keir Starmer Just Looked Out? Wed Dec 25, 2024 11:00 | Henry Goodall
'Warm King Starmer just looked out, On the feast of Reeves, then...' Read Henry Goodall's version of 'Good King Winceslas' updated for Starmer's Britain, exclusive to the Daily Sceptic.
The post Warm Keir Starmer Just Looked Out… appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Declined: Chapter One Wed Dec 25, 2024 09:00 | M. Zermansky
Introducing Declined: a dystopian satire about the emergence of a social credit system in the U.K. that's going to be published in serial?form?in?the Daily Sceptic. Read episode one here.
The post Declined: Chapter One appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill Wed Dec 25, 2024 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
The Climate and Nature Bill threatens to decimate the UK economy by turbo-charging Net Zero. But where did it come from? Charlotte Gill dives in and finds a glut of Left-wing activists working furiously behind the scenes.
The post The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 25, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

Voltaire Network >>

November 14th Belmullet District Court Report

category national | crime and justice | news report author Wednesday November 14, 2012 22:50author by Shelver - RSC Report this post to the editors

"Its crucial that people know what's going on in here... To my mind it's a constitutional imperative"- Judge Gibbons

There were eight people due to appear in Belmullet district court today for charges arising from protest against the Corrib gas Project.

One case was dealt with - a section 8 and 9 for obstructing a Shell lorry on the Bangor road by climbing up onto the digger it was transporting on the 13th of July this year. The defendant pleaded guilty to the section 9 obstruction charge on the condition that the state withdraw the section 8 (refusing to obey the directions of a Garda when they suspect you of committing an offence) charge. They didn't have a good case for the section 8 charge anyway so were probably content not to have to try prove it.

Judge Gibbons convicted and fined E150 nonetheless and had some choice words for the defendant that are worth repeating in the context of Corrib:

"Nobody has the right to interfere with people using the public highway".
Comment: Except for the Gardaí and IRMS - Shell's private security force.

"We do live in a tolerant democracy, we do tolerate different opinions"
But while deliberating on whether or not to convict he said:
"I thought it was just high jinx, but it was part of a protest which makes it more difficult".

Comment: If the defendant had just been just messing around on the digger, the judge would probably have not convicted and given the Probation Act or ordered a donation to charity. But if you come before the courts because of your opinions don't expect tolerance.

Referring to the importance that the media report goings on in the court to the wider public:
"Its crucial that people know what's going on in here... To my mind it's a constitutional imperative"

Comment: In February this year there was a week of Shell to Sea cases heard in the same court, involving 20 people defending 80 charges arising from protest against Shell. It was unprecedented in the history of the state, but not not one journalist reported on it. During an appeal of one of these cases in the circuit court a few months later, the three journalists from the local papers actually walked out of the court room when the case was called.

The other seven of the cases were put back until the next court dates which are the 12th of December and the 9th of January.

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy