Poet, Activist, Parkinson's sufferer and Granny (79) gets jailed for 6 months.

Lapin

Aosdana memeber and close friend of President Michael D. Higgins, Margaretta D'Arcy has been arrested at her home in Galway and sent to prison for six months for trespassing on the runway at Shannon Airport during an anti war demonstration.

From The Galway Advertiser.

A 79-year-old woman has been jailed for trespassing on the runway at Shannon Airport.
Galway anti-war activist Margaretta D'Arcy has had a three-month suspended sentence activated after she refused to sign a bond to uphold the law and keep away from unauthorised zones at Shannon.
Well known as a writer and anti-war camapigner, Margaretta Darcy was convicted before Ennis District Court in December, along with fellow acitvist Niall Farrell, after Judge Patrick Durkan heard they had endangered lives in blocking two flights from landing at Shannon in October of 2012.
The two members of the Galway Alliance Against War claimed they had a legal right to protest there against US Military use of Shannon.
Both received three-month prison sentences which were suspended on condition they enter into a bond to uphold the law for two years and to stay out of unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport.
However, having refused to sign the bond, Ms Darcy was arrested at her home in Woodquay in Galway today and taken to Limerick prison to serve her sentence.
Her fellow campaigners have expressed outrage at the detention of the 79-year-old Parkinson's sufferer and are calling on the Justice Minister Alan Shatter to demand her release.


This is causing a bit of a stir in Galway. Margaretta is a well known and much respected figure around town here.

Personally I think she is in the right place. Her age and illness shouldn't be used to detract from the fact that she willingly put her own and other people's lives at risk by encroaching onto an active airport runway and causing flights to be diverted.

I fully support the cause she was campaigning for but I can't condone her actions in highlighting that cause. Of course her imprisonment will draw further attention to her campaign, (which is probably her intention anyway.)

If it was a 24 year old unemployed single man going to prison for the same crime would there be as much of an outcry?

slippy wicket

Crazy auld bat, best place for her.

Alpha Dog 1

She should really have known better at her age!

darkpagandeath

Yeah people on an active runway what's the worse that could happen...... Find it surprising people buying the whole I'm ill routine had no problem getting on the runway in the first place ?

Pumpkinseeds

Best place for her. How much money has been spent on policing these stupid bloody protests at the airport? not to mention the police hours wasted on court appearances and then the legal fees. The woman is achieving nothing, she's just indulging her own ego.

anncoates

You're really pulling out the stops with that title.

MagicMarker

Stupid gobshíte.

TheIrishGrover

anncoates wrote: »

You're really pulling out the stops with that title.

I thought it was the start to a joke

Peregrine

Lapin wrote: »

Both received three-month prison sentences which were suspended on condition they enter into a bond to uphold the law for two years and to stay out of unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport.
However, having refused to sign the bond, Ms Darcy was arrested
...
Her fellow campaigners have expressed outrage at the detention of the 79-year-old Parkinson's sufferer and are calling on the Justice Minister Alan Shatter to demand her release.

Really? A woman who trespassed into an active airfield and endangered the lives of hundreds of people and refused to agree not to trespass again?

Now that would be injustice to the rest of us..

Alun

Person gets jailed for 6 months.

End of story, whether she's a poet, a granny or anything else is utterly irrelevant.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Lapin wrote: »

This is causing a bit of a stir in Galway. Margaretta is a well known and much respected figure around town here.

Well, with the smelly crusties.




It's not racist if you're from Galway.

Menas

Too old and infirm to do the time?
Don't do the crime.

DwightSchrute1

Delighted she is gone to prison. The fact she is an elderly, ill granny didn't stop her from jeopardising the lives of others.

minidazzler

Woman who broke law, got a slap on the wrist if she agreed to certain simple terms which say she won't break that particular law again, gets jailed.

She could still protest at Shannon, just not in restricted area's.

The Manganese Overlord

Stupid cause, stupid thing to do. And why should her being a poet have any bearing on anything?

end of the road

Lapin wrote: »

Aosdana memeber and close friend of President Michael D. Higgins, Margaretta D'Arcy has been arrested at her home in Galway and sent to prison for six months for trespassing on the runway at Shannon Airport during an anti war demonstration.

From The Galway Advertiser.

A 79-year-old woman has been jailed for trespassing on the runway at Shannon Airport.
Galway anti-war activist Margaretta D'Arcy has had a three-month suspended sentence activated after she refused to sign a bond to uphold the law and keep away from unauthorised zones at Shannon.
Well known as a writer and anti-war camapigner, Margaretta Darcy was convicted before Ennis District Court in December, along with fellow acitvist Niall Farrell, after Judge Patrick Durkan heard they had endangered lives in blocking two flights from landing at Shannon in October of 2012.
The two members of the Galway Alliance Against War claimed they had a legal right to protest there against US Military use of Shannon.
Both received three-month prison sentences which were suspended on condition they enter into a bond to uphold the law for two years and to stay out of unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport.
However, having refused to sign the bond, Ms Darcy was arrested at her home in Woodquay in Galway today and taken to Limerick prison to serve her sentence.
Her fellow campaigners have expressed outrage at the detention of the 79-year-old Parkinson's sufferer and are calling on the Justice Minister Alan Shatter to demand her release.


This is causing a bit of a stir in Galway. Margaretta is a well known and much respected figure around town here.

Personally I think she is in the right place. Her age and illness shouldn't be used to detract from the fact that she willingly put her own and other people's lives at risk by encroaching onto an active airport runway and causing flights to be diverted.

I fully support the cause she was campaigning for but I can't condone her actions in highlighting that cause. Of course her imprisonment will draw further attention to her campaign, (which is probably her intention anyway.)

If it was a 24 year old unemployed single man going to prison for the same crime would there be as much of an outcry?

if it was US military flights she was disrupting then good on her, anything that makes it a little difficult for the US to use any of our airports as part of a war gets the thumbs up from me, 24 year old man or 79 year old woman wouldn't matter to me

frag420

Is this them??

Skid X

Galway Advertiser wrote:

Both received three-month prison sentences which were suspended on condition they enter into a bond to uphold the law for two years and to stay out of unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport.

However, having refused to sign the bond, Ms Darcy was arrested at her home in Woodquay in Galway today and taken to Limerick prison to serve her sentence.

So, she accepts no sanction for her crime, and refuses to say she won't do the same thing again (which would cost the Country thousands of euro, and endanger life).

No Citizen is above the Justice System. I have no sympathy for her.

My name is URL

It's a pity that whoever gave the go ahead for Shannon to be used to transport people for torture hasn't also been jailed. Not that the tools on here would have any issue with that sort of human rights abuse... old lady on a runway though is the devil incarnate.

laoch na mona

it's stupid jailing anyone for such a minor offence.

Menas

My name is URL wrote: »

It's a pity that whoever gave the go ahead for Shannon to be used to transport people for torture hasn't also been jailed. Not that the tools on here would have any issue with that sort of human rights abuse... old lady on a runway though is the devil incarnate.

Two wrongs never make a right.

WilyCoyote

Can someone take this lady by the hand and lead her through Ann Summers' doors to get something to keep her happy. This Shannon Airport gig was a cry for help.

may contain nuts batteries

mathepac

Poet, Activist, Parkinson's sufferer and Granny (79) gets jailed for 6 months and abused by brave, anonymous internet posters for acting on her principles.

"Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet they were of a different kind,
The names that stilled your childish play,
They have gone about the world like wind,
But little time had they to pray
For whom the hangman's rope was spun,
And what, God help us, could they save?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave."

William Butler Yates

Chucken

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Two wrongs never make a right.

And if you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything.

A woman of principles. Fair play to her.

The Backwards Man

If there's one thing that literally makes me tear my hair out and set fire to my head and boil my brains in the scorching heat, it's emotive journalism.

bumper234

laoch na mona wrote: »

it's stupid jailing anyone for such a minor offence.

You do realise that she put hundreds of innocent people in danger right?

Silly old cow should have got 3 years.

hfallada

My highest biggest issue is if a 79 year old woman can get onto a runway of an international airport more than likely a terrorist could.

returnNull

The Manganese Overlord wrote: »

Stupid cause, stupid thing to do. And why should her being a poet have any bearing on anything?

could lead to some interesting cell graffiti!

poetic granny wrote:

i woz ere,
ere i woz,
woz i ere,
yez i woz

end of the road

bumper234 wrote: »

You do realise that she put hundreds of innocent people in danger right?

not at all, US military aren't "innocent"

bumper234 wrote: »

Silly old cow should have got 3 years.

would cost to much, we can't afford it, we have to save the space for actual criminals such as murderers rapists paedophiles and so on. and she isn't a "silly old cow" she is a brave woman standing up for whats right and paying almost the ultimate price, fair play to her, a true hero

Orlaw3136

She got exactly what she wanted.

And deserved.

DwightSchrute1

Chucken wrote: »

And if you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything.

A woman of principles. Fair play to her.

oh she was only acting on her principles..well that's reason enough to go onto a runway and endanger lives

An Fhuiseog

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If there's one thing that literally makes me tear my hair out and set fire to my head and boil my brains in the scorching heat, it's emotive journalism.

You must have one ugly looking head so!

whirlpool

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Two wrongs never make a right.

(There are an infinite amount of examples available to any human being with a working brain to contradict this horrifically overused term.)

Anyway, she was given the option to avoid jail and she refused it, so obviously this is what she wanted.

My name is URL

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Two wrongs never make a right.

I don't argue that she shouldn't have been jailed. She broke the law, refused not to do so again and has rightly been jailed as anyone else would be if they done the same.

I do however find it ironic and intolerable that people harp on about how she endangered lives (did she even.. where's the evidence for that?).. She was protesting against the use of the airport, and of our sovereign nation; being used for the purposes of enabling torture and kidnapping of people in other countries. Anyone that doesn't have an issue with those things, yet feigns concern over how the woman endangered lives; is frankly not worth listening to.

mathepac

The Backwards Man wrote: »

... tear my hair out and set fire to my head and boil my brains in the scorching heat ...

Can I help ow might this do it for you?

bumper234 wrote: »

You do realise that she put hundreds of innocent people in danger right? ....

Is this hyperbolic enough to encourage you, right?

Pumpkinseeds

end of the road wrote: »

not at all, US military aren't "innocent"

would cost to much, we can't afford it, we have to save the space for actual criminals such as murderers rapists paedophiles and so on. and she isn't a "silly old cow" she is a brave woman standing up for whats right and paying almost the ultimate price, fair play to her, a true hero

No offence but thats utter Boll*x

Lapin

mathepac wrote: »

Poet, Activist, Parkinson's sufferer and Granny (79) gets jailed for 6 months and abused by brave, anonymous internet posters for acting on her principles.

Fellow anonymous internet poster mathepac.

Seeing as you're quoting me there can you please point out where in my post did I direct any abuse in the direction of Mrs D'Arcy ?

old hippy

A brave, courageous woman. Shannon Whoreport is a national disgrace. How we bent over and took it in the ass from the US military machine is a constant source of shame.

end of the road

The Manganese Overlord wrote: »

Stupid cause

your in favour of the US military using an irish airport on their way to a war or possibly as part of some secret dodgy program possibly involving torcher, grand so, not a stupid cause at all

opinionated3

Delighted she got sent down. Sick of these crusties hanging around like a bad smell at our airport. Most local people around Shannon are happy to have the US military use the airport despite the propaganda that groups like shannonwatch like to peddle.

catallus

I think it was Shelley who called poets the unacknowledged legislators of the world, so shouldn't it really be her who sends them to jail?

WoollyRedHat

opinionated3 wrote: »

Delighted she got sent down. Sick of these crusties hanging around like a bad smell at our airport. Most local people around Shannon are happy to have the US military use the airport despite the propaganda that groups like shannonwatch like to peddle.

What sort of propaganda? I wouldn't boast of being happy allowing a country use ours as a stopover before partaking in illegal acts of rendition and torture. Whatever about your thoughts on this lady's actions, to be happy about their presence is pretty shameful.

DwightSchrute1

old hippy wrote: »

A brave, courageous woman. Shannon Whoreport is a national disgrace. How we bent over and took it in the ass from the US military machine is a constant source of shame.

Shannon Whoreport instead of Shannon Airport, I get it. I get jokes. Very clever

Chucken

opinionated3 wrote: »

Delighted she got sent down. Sick of these crusties hanging around like a bad smell at our airport. Most local people around Shannon are happy to have the US military use the airport despite the propaganda that groups like shannonwatch like to peddle.

So Shannon Airport just 'belongs' to the people of Shannon now??

bumper234

end of the road wrote: »

not at all, US military aren't "innocent"

would cost to much, we can't afford it, we have to save the space for actual criminals such as murderers rapists paedophiles and so on. and she isn't a "silly old cow" she is a brave woman standing up for whats right and paying almost the ultimate price, fair play to her, a true hero

Who mentioned US military flights?

I am talking about the hundreds of innocent men women and children who were on civilian flights approaching Shannon when this old bint and her cronies pulled their stupid stunt.

opinionated3

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

What sort of propaganda? I wouldn't boast of being happy allowing a country use ours as a stopover before partaking in illegal acts of rendition and torture. Whatever about your thoughts on this lady's actions, to be happy about their presence is pretty shameful.

I have nothing to be ashamed of buddy. Very happy to support the US military in their pursuit of the likes of the taliban and al qaeda wherever they may be. That's the way I look at it. You may not agree and that's fine. ... that's your opinion. Shannonwatch would have everyone believe that the whole irish populace is against the military using Shannon. Not the case

end of the road

opinionated3 wrote: »

Delighted she got sent down. Sick of these crusties hanging around like a bad smell at our airport.

people protesting at an airport isn't an issue for you, a lot more important things you should be worrying about such as ireland acting as a pimp to the US meaning those people having to protest

opinionated3 wrote: »

Most local people around Shannon are happy to have the US military use the airport

you have asked all those living around the area?

opinionated3 wrote: »

despite the propaganda that groups like shannonwatch like to peddle.

what "propaganda" the US military are using the airport for the laugh yes? or is it because its the most convenient re-fueling point on the way to their latest war?

Menas

whirlpool wrote: »

(There are an infinite amount of examples available to any human being with a working brain to contradict this horrifically overused term.)

Anyway, she was given the option to avoid jail and she refused it, so obviously this is what she wanted.

And there are an infinite amount of examples to anyone with a working human brain, including the subject of this thread, that support this overused term.

old hippy

opinionated3 wrote: »

Delighted she got sent down. Sick of these crusties hanging around like a bad smell at our airport. Most local people around Shannon are happy to have the US military use the airport despite the propaganda that groups like shannonwatch like to peddle.

And you got to love the propaganda that us anti-war folk are smelly crusties etc. etc. Have you ever been on a demo or march? People from all walks of life go on them.

bumper234 wrote: »

Who mentioned US military flights?

I am talking about the hundreds of innocent men women and children who were on civilian flights approaching Shannon when this old bint and her cronies pulled their stupid stunt.

That's not very nice of you. Why use her age against her?

end of the road

bumper234 wrote: »

Who mentioned US military flights?

I am talking about the hundreds of innocent men women and children who were on civilian flights approaching Shannon when this old bint and her cronies pulled their stupid stunt.

doubt that happened

WilyCoyote

She escaped from Tales From The Big House? That is where she should be. Did she really think that she'd achieve anything other than notoriety. That, I think, was her plan.