Report on Shell vs. McGrath, Corduff and Brown, Wednesday 29th June, High Court, Dublin. Presiding Judge: Justice Keane, President of High Court.
What became clear during this hearing is that Justice Keane appears willing to grant every injunction sought by Shell, regardless of evidence.
At today’s hearing, the defendants were instructed that further disobedience of Thursday’s injunction would see them being sent to prison, along with anything the Judge decided, as per his whim, to throw at them, including fines of unrestricted amount. The Judge was not interested in anything that the defendants wished to say in their defence, even though several of them were representing themselves, and stated he would only admit an affidavit by the defendants if they gave an undertaking not to continue blocking access to their land by Shell for purposes of laying the pipeline.
The Judge at one point made a distinction without a difference, as if in self-defence: he said that his injunction, made despite his refusal to take heed of substantial evidence of Shell’s falsehood concerning the safety of the pipeline, was only to allow the pipe to be laid, not to be used, as though once the pipe were laid down there were any possibility of removing it again. One of the defendants said that once the pipe was laid the damage to the soil on his land would have been done and could not be reversed. This did not concern the Judge, who made open threats to the defendants, asking one if he had a house and family, and to “think of them”, and at one point said that he was prepared to throw “every farmer in Mayo” into prison. He also stated that any person who acted against the injunction, even if the injunction was not against that person, was liable for punishment for breaching it.
All but one of the defendants stated that they would not end the obstruction of Shell personnel. The Judge refused to take into account the fact that the Department of the Marine has not yet made an order concerning installation of the pipeline, on the grounds that the Minister was not represented in Court, even though this fact is easily verifiable.
The behaviour of Justice Keane in Court today made it clear that his word, rather than the law itself, was law. A motion for committal will be heard on Friday 1st July, at which time there can be little doubt that the Judge will act on his threats.
Update (29th June, 17.00)
When the Court reconvened at 11.45 Justice McMenamin took the decision to send the five defendants to jail “until they purge their contempt”. Which means that while they are not guilty of a crime, it being legitimate to protect one’s own property against trespass, they defied a Court order for which the legal grounds are dubious, and will remain in jail as long as they refuse to undertake not to obstruct Shell, who seem to have taken over government in the State.