Maura Harrington

[citation needed] On 12 October 2006, Harrington sustained head and neck injuries while Gardaí cleared demonstrators blocking an access road used by Shell workers on the Corrib gas project.

[3] On 9 September 2008, she began a hunger strike in protest at the arrival of the Solitaire, an Allseas pipe-laying ship assisting Royal Dutch Shell.

[6] The judge in the case, Mary Devins, wife of the Fianna Fáil TD Jimmy Devins, also directed Harrington to receive a psychiatric assessment due to what she described as her "bizarre" behaviour[8] an order which received criticism, with Senator David Norris comparing the decision to the tactics used in Stalinist dictatorships in Eastern Europe where political dissidents were portrayed as mentally ill.[9] Harrington denied both charges, and did not give evidence in protest after Judge Devins refused to allow video evidence of the incident to be shown.

[11][12][13] On 6 April 2009, Harrington was due to speak at an event in London organised by Amnesty International to highlight the forthcoming Wiwa family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell, but was unable to because of her imprisonment.

[18] In February 2010, Judge Raymond Groarke accused Harrington of being like a member of "the secret police" following a period when the local area saw an influx of many Integrated Risk Management Services guards.