Bleach Lough Court Case: "Water is not a commercial product like any other, but rather, a heritage"
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Tuesday June 13, 2006 18:59
by Elaine and Seán Ryan
Orla defies Court Order and vows to continue to do so!
On Friday evening last, five people found themselves served with notices to appear in the High Court this morning to answer as to why they allegedly disobeyed an order from the court, preventing them from obstructing contractors from connecting up the polluted river Deel as their main water supply.
This issue has been developing in Pallaskenry in Limerick, where there is opposition to the County Council’s intentions for the local water supply. The current situation came about following protests against the plan to place the local community on a larger group scheme for the provision of water. At present the locality is served by a supply of water from a local freshwater spring. The larger group scheme would mean that the community would instead be served by water from the River Deel, which is highly polluted.
This article contains a report from this morning’s court appearance.
Excerpt:
“Orla Kaiser was last to present her version of the issue… She read from a statement that she had prepared earlier and had amended on the train from Limerick. Despite being very nervous her voice held no tremor or apology. She began with a quote from an EU directive:
"Water is not a commercial product like any other, but rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such."
She admitted to violating the order against her. The whole courtroom erupted into applause at this point, the judge even managed a smile. Those representing Limerick County Council, neither clapped, smiled nor approved.
Previous indymedia articles on the issue: Echoes of Rossport as Pallaskenry 5 face Jail | Limerick County Council, who are you working for? | A Call For Support | Why Must We Go to Prison for the Safety of their Families? | Support for Pallaskenry & Bleach Lough Spring Water Retention Group | No Spring Water - No Vote! | UPDATE: 2 more prepared to risk jail
Full Court Report - from the newswire:
The High Court today found out why it is not wise to cross a woman from Limerick, and in particular, a redhead.
On Friday evening last, five people found themselves served with notices to appear in the High Court this morning to answer as to why they allegedly disobeyed an order from the court, preventing them from obstructing contractors from connecting up the polluted river Deel as their main water supply.
Donal O Brien, the spokesman and inspiration for many involved in this protest was one of those who was named and called to appear before the court. He was unable to attend this sitting due to the fact that he is seriously ill in hospital due to all the pressures mounted on him by Limerick County Council. One of his children is also currently sitting exams. Our hearts and our best wishes go out to him and his family. We only met him last week for the first time and he impressed us a lot. We left Pallaskenry knowing that the people of Pallaskenry were very well represented. Donal is a man of excellent convictions and high moral fortitude and is a man who will and has readily put the needs of others above his own.
Get well soon Donal.
The Judge arrived in chamber in a smart dark suit, offset by a light blue tie.
Other issues were dealt with in a business-like fashion before the case in question arose.
Nothing untoward happened with the first two defendants. Both agreed to abide by the court's orders.
Next up was Noreen Ryan, a Councillor on Limerick County Council. Noreen told the judge that she had not taken part in any protest or obstruction last Wednesday. She was there, she said, to represent the people she was elected to represent. She told us earlier that there were two other councillors who were now taking the part of the peoples of Kildimo and Pallaskenry. She spoke of a vote taken by the supreme body of the County Council in 1997, to allow the people in question continued access to the water supply from the Bleach Lough. She said that she'd never heard of any resolution or vote that has countered this. She gave an undertaking to continue to obey the law as she has always done and that for her the protest will continue internally within Limerick County Council.
I felt heartened by all this, but was beginning to think the cause lost. Orla must have sensed this because she looked back at me, smiled and gave me a reassuring wink.
It worked.
Orla Kaiser was last to present her version of the issue.
Dressed in a fetching light grey skirt and white blouse, vividly contrasted by her flaming red hair, she stood and faced the judge.
She pointed out that she had been unable to seek legal representation due to the sneaky tactic employed by the council. They served her late Friday evening, as they had done with all the others.
She read from a statement that she had prepared earlier and had ammended on the train from Limerick. Despite being very nervous her voice held no tremor or apology.
She began with a quote from an EU directive: "Water is not a commercial product like any other, but rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such."
She admitted to violating the order against her. The whole courtroom erupted into applause at this point, the judge even managed a smile. Those representing Limerick County Council, neither clapped, smiled nor approved.
She went on to illustrate how the council has avoided ever discussing the issue at hand other than issuing orders and threats.
"LCC are trying to quieten the voices of Kildimo and Pallaskenry by forcing an injunction on local campaigners. This is despite the fact that a Judicial review is to be held on Thursday....."
At this point the prosecution made some smarmy remarks, but was laughed at by the courtroom, in general and literally.
The Judge had to explain the difference between what a 'protest' is and what 'obstruction' is to yet more laughter.
"It's obstruction, not protest. People have the right to protest!"
The Judge was forced at this point to ask Orla, whether she would obey the court's order.
The courtroom went silent.
Orla pointed out to the court that she is a nursing mother and that she has two children, the youngest being six months new.
"It is not of my free will to disobey the court of this country, my country, and it breaks my heart that it has come to this...."
"I cannot give an undertaking that I will end the protest at the 'white line' in Pallaskenry."
The judge did not want to jail this brave and remarkable woman, and all but begged the prosecution to come to some arrangement.
Result - Orla is not in prison and will continue to defy the court order. The Judge said he was, "happy to allow the motion to be adjourned," until this Thursday to be decided in parallel with the Judicial review.
The judge adjourned the case and all of us, including red-faced council representatives left the stifling courtroom.
We all gave three cheers for the defendants before leaving to face a media circus outside.
I look forwards to the Rally to be held in Pallaskenry at 9pm tonight. I'm delighted that Orla had to buy a ticket for the return trip to Limerick (she'd only bought a one-way ticket to Dublin this morning) and that she'll have to now compose a speech for the party/protest tonight.
Related Links:
Echoes of Rossport as Pallaskenry 5 face Jail. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76575
Limerick County Council, who are you working for? http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76531
A Call For Support http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76488
Why Must We Go to Prison for the Safety of their Families? http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76451
Support for Pallaskenry & Bleach Lough Spring Water Retention Group. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76464
No Spring Water - No Vote! http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74440
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Comments (42 of 42)
Jump To Comment: 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Please look at www.fluoridealert.org.
There is always a sniff of Uranium / Plutonium in the air around 'Aluminium' Plants , everywhere. FACT!
This Story is much bigger than a lot of People imagine. To Folks whose Cattle have been damaged in the Area,it may come as no real surprise that the L.C.C. wants the Bleach Lough Water for the expanding Askeaton Alumia Plant.
I will post info.as I receive it.
B.C.N.U.
There is always a sniff of Uranium / Plutonium in the air around 'Aluminium' Plants , everywhere. FACT!
This Story is much bigger than a lot of People imagine. To Folks whose Cattle have been damaged in the Area,it may come as no real surprise that the L.C.C. wants the Bleach Lough Water for the expanding Askeaton Alumia Plant.
I will post info.as I receive it.
B.C.N.U.
of Bleach Lough and Pallaskenry from the weekend.
Bleach Lough
Boats On The Lough
Pallaskenry
Local Petrol Station
Sign On Local Shop Door
I think you'll agree Kildimo_local, that this particular problem has existed only a few weeks (as you said) and is down to Limerick County Council playing dirty tricks, to facilitate folks like your good self taking their side.
I was at the Bleach Lough over the weekend and the levels of water are at their usual level. I shall upload a few photographs in a few hours to show this.
So instead of harbouring malice towards your neighbours, why not get onto the County Council and tell them the game is up and to stop denying you your most basic needs.
Solidarity.
I live in the Kildimo region and my water is supplied by Bleach Lough. Currently my water is shut off for about 8 hours in the day, presumably to "conserve" the water, and has been like this for the last couple of weeks. I still don't understand why they're fighting so much to keep a supply that is shut off so much!!
A very considerable amount of Information on the way various people in the Republic of Ireland have been treating the Aarhus Convention Agreement - so far - can be found via the following link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Aarhus+Convention+Agreem...earch
So, we have one set of 'facts' all be it separated by more than half a year from the CoCo side and it would appear nowt from the other side.
I'm not inclined to give the CoCo a 100% pass or believe them completely, but at least they have put something in the public domain.
HAS NOT BEEN TRANSPOSED INTO IRISH LAW> YET.
THOUGH (COCK-roche) intends to transpose 'elements'of it with the
Planning and development bill 2006. (S.I.B)
Full story elsewhere on de newswire.
Might not all (or almost all) of these drinking water problems be satisfactorily resolved if Ireland paid more attention to the United Nations Aarhus Convention Agreement it signed in 1998?
Further information on the Aarhus Convention Agreement can be found by clicking on:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Aarhus+Convent...earch
par o'noid,
those tables look interesting, the sort of information one would expect to see posted for public consumption by limerick, and all other, councils openly on their websites.
the data from the two sites are seperated by 7 months, april to nov. 2005
Does limerick coco test its water that infrequently, would seem to imply once per year per public drinking water scheme.
I'm sure a visit or call to the test loctaions mentioned would elict details of how frequently samples are taken. I'm sure at least one councilor out there would oblige with a copy of their copy of the reports and i'm sure that a more accurate comparison could then be made of readings taken on the same or similar dates, say to account for such variables as:
- different levels of organic activity in the source water,
- farming or industrial activity in the sources cachement basins,
- accidents, spillages, algael blooms,
- water table levels,
- sediment levels
and so on (as might occour between winter and summer).
I'm not suggesting anything here, just find it odd that any scientist would prepare such a comparative table using such poorly corelated data sources, and fail to mention anywhere the possibilities for seasonal variation.
But hey, maybe this table wasn't prepared by a scientist, or maybe all our public drinking water is processed so much that it's all at the lowest legally acceptable standard, all the time...
I am one of the hundreds waiting for the Shannon Estuary Supply. I have read the many messages printed here and in particular the last few. Whatever happened to " being entitled to ones opinion" as far as I can make out the people and their supporters opposed to this new water supply , which will serve the community as a whole, have exercised again and again that anyone who does not share their opinion is either against them or a member of Limerick County Council who is out to get them. I have a copy of those analysis which, by the way, is available on request and I am neither of the above, why would you assume that Par O'Noid is working for anyone , other than being, possibly, another individual, like myself, wanting what I am entited to as a citizen of Ireland, to have clean drinking water from a properly monitored water treatment plant.
Who do you work for paranoid, is psting anonymously part of your job description?
The Tables are released by Limerick Co Council to councillors. I know Limerick County Council are not to be trusted as they are poisioning thousands of people in Askeaton, Foynes and Shanagolden with water from the Shannon Estuary Scheme. Its only a matter of time before they become ghost towns. The people in these towns for some reason dont seem to have realised the imminent danger that is stalking their lives and lives of their children for many years. Obviously the Bleach Lough Group have greater expertise in this area and will publish their own 'scientific' findings in time. Having searched for far away politicians to support them they will surely find a faraway expert.
Oh yes let's just read the figures printed on paper ... they must be for real ...
So what is the source of this "report", where was the testing performed, how reliable are these figures ?
There is little difference between the Water Quality from the Shannon Estuary scheme and the Bleach Lough Treatment Plant see attached tables. Both have water quality that complies with National and EU Standards. The level of chlorine at the tap would appear to be higher in Bleach Lough than the Shannon Estuary. There has been to much hysteria a very little real factual information in this dispute.
Quality Report
Quality Report
Is that Chlorine I see in Bleach Lough Water?
A Fiasco, a Farce and two Major Scandals http://indymedia.ie/article/76649
Study your Nietzsche more diligently young man:
State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters.
Coldly it tells lies too;
and this lie crawls out of its mouth:
"I, the state, am the people."
The STATE is not the PEOPLE !
THE PEOPLE ARE THE STATE.
No. 6 - I presume going by your last mail that you have your own well which supplies you with all the water you need? Surely if a council lays pipes and maintains the supply then they have a right to be paid for the work and supplies? how else are they supposed to pay their workers and suppliers? If the Council did not do this work we'd all have to dig wells or bring buckets of water up from a lake every time we need to wash..
"OUR water", "the PEOPLE'S water" - my arse !
Look at Bunreacht na hEireann, Article 10:
All natural resources, including the air and all forms of potential energy, within the jurisdiction of the Parliament and Government established by this Constitution ... belong to the State ...
Water is a natural resource - therefore according to the Constitution it belongs to the STATE - not to the PEOPLE !
"State? What is that? Well then, open your ears to me, for now I shall speak to you about the death of peoples.
State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it tells lies too; and this lie crawls out of its mouth: "I, the state, am the people."
That is a lie! It was creators who created peoples and hung a faith and a love over them: thus they served life. It is annihilators who set traps for the many and call them "state": they hang a sword and a hundred appetites over them."
(F. Nietzsche - Thus spake Zarathustra)
The ' water is scarce' lie is definitly one of the biggest lies People swallowed,including the People who administer the unconstitutional idea that Water has to be ....taxed?
Water goes up....and then comes back down, I think Rain has something to do with it. lets get real. Whoever made all this happen, it was certainly ,not the Council. It ,has no right to Tax you or me on a God given necessity. The reason the lackies in the Council Depts. etc. actually believe that Water should be Taxed is because they have lost what life is really about. Dear whoever, We know your Masters pay you every week so you can pay the ungodly interest on the Mortgage and take a little time off etc. But don't believe all the lies all the time.
The reason Councils are planting the seeds of Taxing and privatising OUR ...the People's Water ,is due to the fact that the Council ,in all of it's arrogant behaviour, Poisons OUR Water with no less than six additives as a method of disposing of toxic waste......and paying for it from taxed People's money. Then has the atrocious audacity to dare to impose an unconstitutional tax on the soverign People of this State. Wake up out there.
the requirement in planning permissions for domestic dwellings to install water meters on all domestic supplies. Its already happened to commercial premises. But you honestly think there won't be outrage and protest against this 'unfair tax'?? It may make sense, and promote a more sustainable, economic and environmentally friendly attitude towards water usage, but joe soap will see it as a way for d'govermint to take more of his 'not so difficult to earn anymore' money.
Potable water is a substance which is provided at great expense by the taxpayer. Its use, in the domestic context, is proportionate to the wealth of the user (the family with two bathrooms and a swimming-pool uses more than its poorer bretheren).
Water is a community resource. The community has an interest in policies which penalize those who would use more than their fair share. The best way to do this is to impose a tax on its consumption based on a free threshold per member of the household. An escalating charge would then apply to use above that threshold to tax the greedy and not the needy (or average user)
Those who argue water to be their free natural heritage are, by and large, people who don't like paying their fair share for anything. Water is paid for anyway by the community in one form of taxes or another. The present 'free' system advantages the wasteful and rich.
Does someone have readings from the respective waters sources of the levels of pollution in each and their capacity to supply the affected areas?
It would be interesting to examine the level of planning applications in the affected area. It would seem to an outsider that all parties are making efforts at keeping the facts pretty close to their chests.
Also, I find it a tad strange that everyone is so happy to have Cllr Noreen Ryan of FF (you do remember that they are in government and that a FF TD is minister for the environment) on board while heckling someone like cllr Sheahan. Cllr Ryan wasn't even aware that the matter had lead to an injunction, or what the protest was about. http://www.irishelection.com/06/350/.
You're being taken for a ride by that one and no mistake.
For Donal:
'...When fairness is flouted, the universe is at risk. Injustice is always unacceptable... Being the recipient of such an injustice is more than emotion. It is excruciatingly visceral. It invades the human psyche with the most lancing cut. Depending on the severity of the injustice, life may ever after be divided mentally between the time before and after the unjust event.'
'The experience of injustice alters the perception of oneself, of the safety of the world, the security of life, and the belief that wrongs inflicted will be put right. Injustice destroys justice because it destroys belief in justice. It destroys the notion of justice as something more than an activity or an act but as a powerful principal at work in the universe...'
'For some what is perceived as judicial injustice is a crime upon the crime: a further defilement after rape (physical and/or psychological) and an insult that exceeds the original assault...'
'Clinically, the emotions and behaviours consequent upon perception of grave injustice are many... It is all action and immobility, all words and silence, all reality and illusory. Sometimes it chokes in indignation...'
The above quotes are from a newspaper article titled: "Dealing with injustice", by Marie Murray (Psychologist).
The full text of the article can be viewed at:
http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.co...e.htm
Bring back the rope!
- and that will very quickly put a stop to the bulldozing by Limerick County Council.
I would suggest that people avoid fluoride as much as possible. Bottles of Mineral waters are reasonably inexpensive. People should supplement their diet with magnesium which mitigates the harmful effects of fluoride. People should also try to avoid Irish produce made with fluoridated water as well; European foreign produce is a safer bet. Try a non fluroidated toothpaste - very effective and much safer.
"Ain't no stoppin' us now"
Even members of the dental profession are speaking out against the myth that fluoride is good for your teeth.
Three cheers for Orla.
You're absolutely right about the fluoride. Ireland is the only country in Europe that fluoridates its water as a matter of official policy - Europe rejects it precisely on health grounds. Also if we take into account the daily recommended amount of fluoride set by the WHO( WHICH DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE RIGHT) which is around 1mg - if an Irish person drinks 2 litres of tap water a day or more they are exceeding the recommended limit.people forget though that fluoride is also in the foods we eat in Ireland which involve the use of the public water supply. Fluoride has also been established to be linked with ostereoporosis and dental fluorosis , rates of which are very high in Ireland. new research has also established that it is linked to bone cancer. See link to article in british Guardian:
FLUORIDE ALERT! PLEASE READ
The Govt.injects . the following into the People’s Water every Day.
Sulphuric acid / Calcium hydroxide, Aluminium sulphate & Polyelectrolite,
Hydrofluorsilicic acid, Chlorine gas. You can check this with Dublin City Council if you wish. Sodium fluoride, a hazardous-waste by-product from the manufacture of aluminium, is a common ingredient in rat and cockroach poisons, anesthetics, hypnotics, psychiatric drugs and military nerve gas. It is not the same as Natural Fluoride. It’s historically been quite expensive to properly dispose of, until some aluminium industries with an over abundance of the stuff sold the Public (via the Govt.) on the terrifically insane but highly profitable idea of buying it at a 20,000% markup, injecting it into our Water supplies, and then… DRINKING it.
It is injected at 1ppm(part per million), but since we only drink ½ of 1% of the total Water supply, the rest is literally washed down the drains as a free hazardous-waste disposal for the chemical industry. We actually pay for this, to flush their hazardous waste down our toilets and sinks and pollute our Waterways Rivers and seas? How many salesmen dream of such a dream? (Follow the money). This stuff was first produced to filter uranium for the atomic bomb. Hitler also fluoridated the Water supply before he invaded any Country. The effects of this stuff are, WAIT FOR IT.. Many Cancers, Hip fractures, low I.Q., reduced sperm, accelerates aluminium to the brain (especially when heated or boiled--have a nice cup of Alzheimer’s tea), disrupts thyroid, accelerates osteoporosis and sexual activity in Children, adheres to pineal gland, makes one stupid docile and subservient all in one package, even table salt and many cereals are laced with fluoride, just to make sure we all get it. [A convenient light Lobotomy]. And the list goes on and on. It is almost impossible to discover whom the “made very rich” fluoride contractors are. These are paid large amounts to silently medicate the Population. Dublin City Council’s Water and Legal Departments are very shy, even under the freedom of information act to reveal who these contractors are. Does Alumia Plant in Aughinish Askeaton Co. Limerick have the secret Contract to all Co. Councils for Alum.Sulphate? Why not write to Law agent of Dublin city council Terence O’Keefe or City Manager John Tierney or Health Minister Mary Harney or local Council Law Agent and ask. Scientists who have attempted to expose the Fluoride scam have been victimized. Most dentists are kept very busy cleaning mottled (browning) teeth caused by dental fluorosis while the medical system is kept very busy manufacturing, selling and administering the Drugs (via the Medical Mafia) needed to cure the “problems”.
The addition of Water additives is contrary to Muslim and Jewish Principles in that it adulterates God given Water and Food. It also violates Constitutional Rights under Art.40. People were never asked about a grade 2 poison being dumped into the water in 1960. Essentially, Forced medication of a Populace without their consent or even knowledge. Two Books The Fluoride deception-Bryson and drinking ourselves to Death-Groves are must-reads.Check www.prisonplanet.com. www.apfn.org. There are many more.(Buy a copy of the Irish Constitution at any book store only€2.55). You can do something. A registered letter is a legal document. It puts the issue “on the record”. It cannot be denied it was received. So, forget about all the telephone calls and Letters to Departments etc. Register your voice to the Person with the biggest pair of shoes in the relevant section or Govt.Dept. And demand that it be removed. It is your Constitutional right and duty to do so and protect your Children and Family- the most fundamental unit in Society. Why not photocopy this info. Do it for your Children, Family, yourself, our World. Not the new world order.
Over 150 people attended a rally in Pallaskenry on Wednesday evening. The attendance would even have been larger had it not been for a local funeral taking place at the same time. A number of people addressed the rally including Joe Higgins T.D., and local councillors Noreen Ryan FF, John Gallahue FF, and John Sheehan FG. Many of those involved in the protest also spoke including Orla Kaiser and her husband Stefan. The rally demonstrated that the local community are solidly behind this campaign and are determined to fight the attempt by Limerick County Council to railroad and intimidate them. It was interesting that when speaking John Sheehan was heckled when he suggested that the issues of development would have to be discussed and a compromise sought. The rally then marched to the white line where daily protests continue to take place.
The publicity generated by the court case will undoubtedly increase national publicity around this issue and there is an onus on everyone to pile the pressure on local councillors and council officials. The Socialist Party in Limerick will be using their usual Saturday afternoon stall in Limerick to publicise the issue.
Joe Higgins will attempt to raise the issue in the Dail this week and Dublin activists should endevour to have to have as large a turnout for the re-convened court hearing on Thursday.
Sending my solidarity and support to the people off Pallaskenry/Kildimo in their rightful peacefull protest against Limerick County Councils attempt to railroad in their undemocratic actions. LCC are now standing in a long line of state and Government and private institutions who are using injunctions, the threat to jail and the jailing of people who are using their democratic right to protest. The Rossport five/ the Ballybrack 4/the Bin Tax 22 etc.
What they dont realise is that people when defending what they believe in are prepared to give up their civil liberty.
I wish Donal O'Brien a speedy recovery and the Campaign for an Ind left offer our supprt in any way we can and wish you victory in your struggle.
re: Breast-feeding and injunction. The parameters of the legislation that
put the Glen O' Downs protestors, the Rossport five in jail is the same as in
the Pallashenry case. The judge, if He/she decides to commit Orla to
prison on refusal not to interfere in works, probably will. The onus is then
on the governor of the Prison (usually Mountjoy training centre) to
provide the mother and infant with breasfeeding and bonding facilities. As
far as I am aware this facility is provided in most women's prisons, and the
issue of bond continuation is respected and facilitated by prison
authorities. Maybe indy or revolt could elicit a response , by statement
to that issue? The fight to uncover the use of injunction by
corporation and county council (they usually come in tandem) is something
that single people have had to take on over and over, it shows the linearity
of a system dedicated to rubbing the corporations. Good legal advice in relation
to activism is necessary, as is a pooling of resources.
the wording of the injunction is key.
Other issues that create a situation of this magnitude are the abuse of mandate
by the relevant council, the CPO and the consultative process, (which is centred
around the crony lobby and facilitates the corporation).
Re : Women and protest:
The Garda service has no right to strip-search you if you are pregnant,
this is known to cause or induce miscarriage.
One point of interest is not alone to look at the wording of the injunction but
to see who sponsored it and check out the legal experts who drafted it.
The perameters of the planning, consultative legislation create situations wherein
people feel that they have no choice but to protest by refusing injunction.
The abuse of Aarhus amongst other international legislations, wherein someone with
an objection cannot access judicial review except at a high price and community
isolation points to abuse of our rights as citizens.
I've just had a chat with Niall Harnett via mobile phone, Niall is down in Pallaskenry this morning with a group of protesters, who are yet again forced to stand behind the line to defend their spring water.
Cro-Bar, the construction company from Cork are again about to attempt to cross the picket line and to connect up the pipework. Tape, bollards, and getting ready with the saw to cut the road - as I type.
Colm Morrissey, Executive Engineer with Limerick County Council is again present and taking notes for his masters, like the good little tout that he is.
We've put a question to him.
We've asked him if it was the intention of Limerick County Council to increase court costs (in the deluded fantasy that they'll win the case) and further burden the community that they are laying seige to. Considering that LCC are fully aware of yesterday's High Court proceedings. Ie. that contractors will be stopped from crossing the line, as avowed by Orla.
His reply to Niall was, "I'm not prepared to talk to you!"
When Niall asked him to give a reason for this, he refused to comment.
Hypocrite Paul Crowe, Director of Services was on the radio this morning, gushing about how he and LCC didn't wan't to see people jailed.
To be continued shortly.................
Orla Kaiser, representing herself ,spoke eloquently in her defence
Your Honour,
I would like to begin my defence with a quote from EU Directive 2000/60/EC:
Water is not a commercial product like any other, but rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such.
I am here to defend our Natural Spring Water Supply
The Primary cause of me being here is due to the wilfull failure of Limerick Count Council to engage with the community of Kildimo and Pallaskenry over a period of 15 years.
All we are looking to do is protect the health and well being of our community through the retention of our natural spring water from Bleach Lough
The Council are seeking to remove this natural source and replace it with a river supply from the Deel which is documented as one of ther most polluted rivers in Ireland.
After 15 years of Peaceful Protest LCC are trying to quieten the voices of Kildimo and Pallaskenry by forcing an injunction, on local campaigners. This is despite the fact that a judicial review is to be held in two days time.
I received the summons Friday evening, at 5 p.m. leaving me with no opportunity to recieve legal advice or counsel of any kind
I stand here before you because it is easier for LCC to force me a nursing Mother into jail, rather than deal with the issue at hand, which is that Bleach Lough Water Supply must stay for the community of Kildimo and Pallaskenry.
It is not my free will to disobey the court of this country, my country, and it breaks my heart that it has come to this.
ustle .No cops,no porters ,no
.
Noreen Ryan Orla Kaiser and child about to enter court
supporters
same court different pipe
bannerman
This story is hitting the headlines big time.
RTE has covered this story too in their usual bumbling and illiterate fashion. They even renamed Orla as "Oral."
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0612/pallaskenry.html
Offering support and solidarity to those before the courts. He sat through the proceedings, having met up with the group outside. He also helped find the right court as we had been given the 'run around' that morning by being told firstly that we were in court 19, and then told court 6. He stayed until the end, giving words of encouragement and even joined the group for a coffee afterwards.
Joe Higgins In A Supportive Role
wesupport you all the way
.
Orla Leaves With Copy Of The Constitution, Baby Son And Partner
Noreen Ryan Takes A Turn In Front Of The Cameras