One of five antiwar protesters charged with damaging a US Navy aircraft at Shannon Airport in February 2003 described their actions as "disarmament in a non-violent and legal way", a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today.
Ciaran O'Reilly, an Australian national living in Dublin and working with homeless people, told gardaí shortly after the incident that what they were doing was "a systematic cover up of the deaths of one and a half million Iraqi children".
Det Sgt Michael Houlihan told prosecuting counsel, Conor Devally SC, that Mr O'Reilly then produced a document entitled "Statement of Faith" which he said explained his actions.
The two-page typed document alleged that by allowing Shannon Airport to be used "to service US military aircraft, troop and munition deployments" the Government was acting "in contravention of the Irish Constitution, International Law and divine mandate". The statement, read to the jury by Mr Devally, also claimed that the protesters went to Shannon Airport to "disarm and disable the war machine."
Their hope was "to begin to take up the runway and ground military aircraft." Irish traditions of healing and peacemaking were sources of their inspiration, the document claimed. It also quoted Martin Luther King's saying that society is confronted with "a choice between non-violence and non-existence".
When asked if he regretted his actions at the airport, Mr O'Reilly replied, "No", and said what he and the other protesters had engaged in was "disarmament in a non-violent and legal way".
Damien Moran, a student priest who also works with homeless people and shares an address with Mr O'Reilly on South Circular Road, Rialto, told Det Sgt Houlihan shortly after his arrest: "I honestly believed I had a lawful excuse to commit an act of disarmament to protect the lives and property of myself and others."
Deirdre Clancy, a copy editor, of The Spinnaker, Alverno, Clontarf, when charged with criminal damage at Ennis Court on March 21st, 2003, replied: "The charge accuses me of reckless damage, but the reckless damage being caused to an innocent population is being ignored."
She also said that there was "no attempt being made to investigate the real crime." The other two protesters charged with one count of damaging a US naval plane and to causing similar damage to two glass door panels at Aer Rianta at Shannon Airport on February 3rd, 2003 are Karen Fallon a Scottish marine biologist, also living on SCRd; Nuin Dunlop, from the United States of America, a trained counsellor who lives in Dublin city centre.
They have all pleaded not guilty to damaging a US naval plane and to causing damage to glass doors at Shannon Airport. The trial continues tomorrow before Judge Frank O'Donnell.