Colm Roddy & Dave Donnellan outside Ennis courthouse after Colm's acquittal.

Colm Roddy & Dave Donnellan outside
Ennis courthouse Wednesday after Colm's acquittal.

The court case in Ennis involving Colm Roddy and Dave Donnellan went amazingly well today!

Dave's case was first up for mention, as today was just a "mention" day and the trial was not due to take place until sometime next year. Just before the court, Dave and Colm were surprisingly arrested and presented with new charges, which increased the amount of the alleged criminal damage they were alleged to have done to €3,500.

Colm Roddy from Bayside is barred from the County Clare.
Tell the guards in Ennis if you ever see him there.
He's dangerous and determined, you may be sure of that,
Armed with a lethal weapon - an inflammatory hat.

We must protect the war planes from this terroristic threat
This cranky agitator is the worst protester yet
With a t-shirt and a placard and a sly subversive grin
But against our Yankee masters we will never let him win.

So guard the roads and boreens, the bridges, fields and bogs
Cctv, patrol cars and a hundred tracker dogs
Keep a close eye on the Burren and the Bridge of Killaloe
For you'd never know what mischief this desperate man would do.

Watch out for him in Quilty, Spanish Point and Spancil Hill
Beware in Ennistymon and remember well your drill.
Keep watch in Miltown Malbay as the fugitive we seek
For he might turn up with a squeeze-box at the end of Willie Week.

Now the danger is tremendous in the August of the year
For in Ennis we'll be hosting Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann here
We'll be searching every caravan, back-pack and banjo case
And balladeers we'll commandeer if they satirise our chase.

Now to conclude my story about this dangerous man
To keep him out of County Clare is our determined plan
We'll keep his hat in custody for twelve months and a day
As we tug our forelocks humbly to the good old USA.

- Mícheál Mac Donncha

Colm Roddy and Dave Donnellan after their appearance at Gort District Court. Picture: Eamon Ward

At Gort District Court, Judge James Faughnan made the order that Colm Roddy of Bayside Walk, Sutton, Dublin 13, and Dave Donnellan, aged 56, of Reuben St, Rialto, Dublin 8, do not enter Clare except for court appearances as part of their bail conditions until their case is finalised.

The two are charged with causing €300 in criminal damage to a fence at Shannon Airport on May 25.

In the alleged incident at 5am on Wednesday, they spray-painted red crosses on airport property as part of a “faith-based protest”.

They were arrested and detained at Shannon Garda Station before their appearance at court yesterday.

Supt Brendan McDonagh of Ennis Garda Station told the court that “there is a possibility of further charges” in the case.

In court, Mr Roddy wore a top with the words ‘Welcome refugees from wars we helped to fuel’.

The two were remanded on bail to reappear in relation to the charges to Ennis District Court on July 20.

The death toll after the US attack on Kunduz hospital in Afghanistan stands at 22: 10 patients (including 3 children) and 12 Medicins Sans Frontieres staff. Whilst attacks by US forces on civilian facilities has become routine it remains no less abhorrent. The deliberate killing of patients lying in hospital beds and the medical personel looking after them is loathsome not just because they are vulnerable but because they are innocent. Once we allow the killing of innocent human beings to become routine we sign our death warrant as a species because there no longer exists any boundary to human violence. In the video below MSF representative Dr Joanne Liu calls for an independent investigation into the atrocity.

More than any other event connected with the US and British invasion of Iraq, the attack on Fallujah in 2003 symbolises the true horror of what was inflicted on the Iraq people by Western forces. In the documentary below Ross Caputi, a US veteran of the Iraq invasion, traces the journey back to present day Fallujah and looks at the effect the 2003 US attack, in which he participated, continues to have to the present day.

To this day the Irish State continues to be complicit in this war crime by allowing Shannon Airport to be used by the invasionary force. Each and every minister who signed off on this decision is complicit in the atrocity which continues to afflict the people of Iraq in general and Fallujah in particular. The relevant ministers who signed off on the use of Shannon Airport during this period were

- Brian Cowen

- Dermot Ahern

- Michael Martin

Their decision has led to unspeakable suffering for the most vulnerable in Iraqi society. The children born with the birth defects shown in this film will need care for the rest of their lives. Who will pay for this care? Who will support the families? Justice demands that those responsible for this atrocity should participate in reparation for the damage caused. Support for these families would be a good first step.

   

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