Pitstop Ploughshares
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The Pitstop Ploughshares were a group of five members of the
Catholic Worker Movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ". One of its guiding prin ...
who made their way into
Shannon Airport Shannon Airport () is an international airport located in County Clare in Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. With almost 2 million passengers in 2023, the airport is the third busiest ...
in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and damaged a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
C-40 transport aircraft in the early hours of 3 February 2003. Their actions were inspired by the vision of
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...
2:4 to "beat swords into ploughshares". The five members were Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon,
Ciaron O'Reilly Ciaron O'Reilly (born 1960) is an Australian social justice and anti-war campaigner, peace protester, and Catholic Worker, having, as the book ''Christian Anarchism'' put it: "engaged in... protests, acts of civil disobedience and trials in Eng ...
and Damien Moran.


Trials

The Pitstop Ploughshares group spent between four and eleven weeks in
Limerick Prison Limerick Prison in Limerick is an Irish penal institution. It is a closed, medium security prison, and has an official capacity of 290 male beds and 20 female beds. The average daily number of male inmates in 2009 was 298 and of female inmates ...
. They went to trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March and October 2005 on two counts of
criminal damage Property damage (sometimes called damage to property) is the damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or an act of nature. Destruction of property (sometimes called property dest ...
, €100 and US$2.5 million. Penalties, if convicted, would have been a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Their March 2005 trial collapsed on the sixth day when Judge O'Donnell called a
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
,Trial of anti-war protesters collapses
RTÉ News, 14 March 2005
having made biased comments about a defence witness. Media were instructed not to report on the reasons for the mistrial until legal proceedings were completed. The October 2005 re-trial collapsed on the tenth day, after Judge Donagh MacDonagh agreed with defence counsel that his attendance at the United States presidential inauguration in 2001 of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
(along with other meetings he had with Bush when he was
Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...
) were grounds for his removal from the case, in that his role was tainted with a "perception of bias". The third trial of the Pitstop Ploughshares trial started on 10 July 2006 and resulted in a unanimous not guilty verdict on both charges of criminal damage (to the aircraft and the door of the hangar) after twelve days of testimony and legal argument. Judge Miriam Reynolds had agreed with the defence on day nine of the proceedings, after extensive submissions and legal argument, on the applicability of the statutory lawful excuse defence. After four-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the Dublin jury of seven women and five men returned and gave their decision that all the accused should be acquitted, as they were acting to save lives and property in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and Ireland, and that their
disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...
action was reasonable, taking into consideration all the circumstances. Over 100 international and numerous Irish
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
activists converged in Dublin for all three trials. Public meetings took place around the trials, with well-known speakers such as Denis Halliday and Kathy Kelly.{{Citation needed, date=November 2011


See also

*
Catholic Worker Movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ". One of its guiding prin ...
* Trident Ploughshares


References

Catholic Worker Movement Irish anti-war activists Anti–Iraq War groups 2003 in Ireland