Two anti-abortion protesters who obstructed people entering a family planning clinic were each fined £250 yesterday. Sisters Aoife (20) and Ciara (25) Ni Aodhan, both from Gracepark Heights, Drumcondra, Dublin, denied failing to move on when directed to do so by a garda.
Dublin District Court was told they were part of a small Youth Defence picket outside the Irish Family Planning Clinic at Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin, on July 19th last year.
A High Court order was in place at the time prohibiting protests in Cathal Brugha Street and in particular outside the family planning clinic.
Gardai received complaints that the two women were obstructing free passage and harassing people entering and leaving the premises. One garda, who had encountered the two women on a previous occasion, asked them to move to either Marlborough Street or O'Connell Street, but they refused to do so.
When two other gardai arrived, following a complaint by the manager of the clinic to Store Street Garda station, they were instructed to leave the area, as they were committing the offence of wilful obstruction.
A video recording of the two sisters and three other people handing out leaflets outside the premises was shown to the court.
Judge Miriam Malone said that, having heard the evidence and viewed the video, she found the gardai had reasonable cause to suspect that the women were committing the offence of wilful obstruction. It followed that it was lawful and valid to direct them to move on under Section 8 of the Public Order Act. The defendants had failed to do so, therefore their arrest was lawful, and she was convicting them of refusing to move on.
Judge Malone ordered that they pay the fine within two months or serve five days in prison. She fixed recognisances for leave to appeal.