WORRY OVER legal fees, solicitors’ letters and court appearances was harder to endure than spending 23 nights in Mountjoy Prison, according to Offaly woman Teresa Treacy.
Ms Treacy (65), Clonmore, Tullamore was jailed for defying court orders permitting the ESB and EirGrid to remove trees and run a 110kv overhead power line through her land.
Following a number of stand-offs and court appearances, Ms Treacy was found in contempt of court and imprisoned on September 13th. She was released last Thursday.
Sitting among activists and children in a Mongolian yurt (tent) next to her forestry on Saturday, Ms Treacy recalled the weeks leading up to her arrest when couriers carrying solicitors’ letters became a common sight.
Relaxing with a cup of tea, she praised the campaigners who have set up a number of campsites on her land. Still suspicious of EirGrid and the ESB, Ms Treacy has asked the activists to remain until some form of resolution is reached. “I need them here until it is all sorted out,” she said.
Although she was “able to cope”, she was not keen to go into detail on her time in prison. Of other prisoners, she said: “I couldn’t say anything about them, they seemed to be, I don’t know, I didn’t think they were bad.”
The activists are receiving regular donations of food, fuel and money from supporters around the State.
Cormac Lally, spokesman for the Teresa Treacy Support Group, said about 60 people came to the camp on Saturday and more than 100 were expected to attend over the weekend.
They held a public meeting in Ballingar Community Centre on Friday night to give local people an opportunity to meet the campaigners and to dispel “myths” and “misconceptions” about the group.