Just another Sunday afternoon at Shannon

The monthly peace vigil at Shannon Airport 

It’s just an ordinary Sunday afternoon at Shannon Airport.

Funny how, in an upside-down world, the small group of peace activists waving flags at a roundabout are made to feel like criminals while the police force ‘protects’ members of the most powerful military in the world . . .  just a few metres down the road.

It’s almost a pantomime at this stage, as everyone knows his or her role.

On the first Sunday of every month, the peace activists descend upon the roundabout on the fringes of the civilian airport.

They unfurl their banners and flags, and commuters, bus-drivers, or cars containing families honk their horns in support as they drive by in sunshine, hail, wind, rain or snow.

It’s some record. They haven’t missed a first Sunday of the month for over a decade now and, indeed, the protests have been going on for a lot longer.

They wish they didn’t have to meet at the roundabout, that they could find something better to do on a Sunday afternoon. But every month they feel a need to return.

One man makes the round trip from Donegal, it takes him ten hours by bus. Another comes all the way from Dundalk. He feels he has to make the effort.

Others have less of a journey. Former Irish Army man Edward Horgan and academic John Lannon, who never seem to miss a monthly Sunday gathering, make the short trip out from Limerick City.
Quite a few drive down from Galway.

Horgan and Lannon are the two main men behind Shannonwatch, the group of peace activists who protest at the airport every month.

Their mission is simple, to highlight the fact that a ‘neutral’ country is continuing to support the US war machine, to raise awareness, and to remind the Irish Government and international community that this civilian airport on the west coast of Ireland could be facilitating war crimes.

For them, Irish neutrality actually means something. With talk of a European ‘super army’ on the horizon and President Donald Trump set to visit in November, their monthly protest seems as timely and relevant as when they began to assemble outside Shannon over ten years ago.

Even today, as I write this, the National Security Advisor to Donald Trump has attempted to discredit the International Criminal Court. He has described the internationally recognised court as "illegitimate" and "dead" in the eyes of the superpower which uses Shannon every day.

It's pretty easy to discredit a court if you feel you have something to hide or you are in breach of international law.

A cargo plane contracted to the US military at Shannon

They know the routine.

The activists stand at the roundabout. A young lady sees the irony when she pops into the new Starbucks nearby to pick up a coffee. Drivers and their families honk their cars in support. And the Gardai maintain a safe distance, sometimes driving up close, though, to monitor the activists and their parked cars.

There are rarely confrontations, but the Gardai maintain a visible presence. After all, some of these activists have undertaken direct action – breaking through the airport’s perimeter fence in order to try to inspect the US military or chartered civilian planes. The protest starts at 2pm and finishes within an hour.

It’s a small but clear reminder that not every Irish person is happy with the fact that US troops land in Shannon on their way to and from their wars in the Middle East.

This month’s protest could not have been more timely. During the one hour vigil at the airport, two Omni Air planes on contract to the US military landed at Shannon.

Shannonwatch activists, who track the military flights in and out of the airport, told me that one of the planes was coming from a NATO base in the north of Norway. The other was on its way to the US from Kuwait.

They said they had no idea whether there were up to 600 troops or cargo on board, and they were pretty sure that the Irish authorities had no idea either.

Horgan, who has a camera with a powerful lens, invited me to join him at the perimeter fence. He focused his camera on the two planes, under the watchful eyes of plain clothes Gardai who pulled up alongside him as he took his photos.

The peace vigils at Shannon have gone on for over ten years

Now in his late 70s, with a respected military background, he told me he was banned from flying from Shannon. It’s a bit of an inconvenience, given that he lives just down the road in Limerick.

But he made headlines across the globe when he decided to inspect a US military plane as he was about to board a Ryanair flight to London. Ed does not believe in mellowing with old age as he is disgusted that nobody in Ireland has a clue about who or what is being carried on the military planes at Shannon.

Horgan took legal action against the Irish state in 2003, on the basis that the US military’s use of Shannon violated Ireland’s status as a neutral country.

He finds it strange to be under scrutiny from the Gardai every time he brings his camera along to his local airport, but he’s determined to continue annoying those in power.

To him, the criminals are inside the airport fence, not those trying to document their movements from the outside.

As the wind howled around us, Lannon told me that the Shannonwatch people had no intention of giving up their monthly protests.

They will be back at Shannon next month and they hope to organise a huge demonstration if, as expected, President Trump used the airport when he visits Ireland, and nearby Doonbeg in particular, in November.

“Two planes arrived here today which have been contracted out to the US military. One of them has just arrived in from a military base in northern Norway. We believe it may have been involved in some NATO exercises,” he tells me.

“We track these planes as best we can on websites. We photograph them. These are military planes. We have our own way of tracking these planes. It’s not just with cameras, we use software to track them. We believe they are involved in NATO exercises even though Leo Varadkar and all our Ministers promise us that the planes that land here have nothing to do with NATO.”

Shannon has served as a refuelling stop for warplanes and protests have taken place there ever since President George W. Bush began his ‘war on terror’ with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Most of the military flights since then have been to or from countries in the Middle East, including Iraq and Syria.

Ed Horgan holding a photo of a Syrian girl murdered in
a US bombing last year

A decade ago, concerns were raised that Shannon was used for rendition or torture flights by the CIA.

In 2006, the Irish Independent reported that a cargo playing carrying Apache helicopters had landed in Shannon on its way to Israel.

In 2008, Irish activists became suspicious about a C-130 Hercules plane, normally based in Little Rock, Arkansas. They linked it to white phosphorous, a weapon known to cause horrific burns, which originated in Arkansas and was used in the bombing of Gaza.

Given Irish people’s traditional support for and empathy with the people of Palestine, such claims would alarm many Irish people in a supposedly ‘neutral’ country.

Few Irish people want to be associated in any way with war crimes.

But of course the peace activists have no proof.

Nobody does, because no inspections have ever been carried out on US military or contracted planes during their stopovers at Shannon.

Please click on the 'Subscribe' button at the top of this page if you would like to be notified every time I publish a new blog. I usually post a blog about once a fortnight ... so you won't be bombarded with emails! 



Ciaran Tierney is a journalist, blogger, and digital storyteller, based in Galway, Ireland. He's available for hire!

Find his website at http://ciarantierney.com/ Find him on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ciarantierneymedia

Why do the Irish denigrate the truth-seekers?

In Ireland, we tend to denigrate and ridicule those who seek out the truth or shine light on our darkness.                                             

Banking whistleblower Jonathan Sugarman

It’s as though the mirror they hold up to Irish society is too ugly to witness, too painful to face up to, so that it’s easier to assassinate their characters than to acknowledge their search for justice.

Take Jonathan Sugarman.

There are restaurants in Dublin who refuse to accept a reservation upon hearing his name. There are pubs where he’d be shunned, seen as a pariah, if he joined the great and the good as they let their hair down on a Friday night.

Because, for the vast majority of Irish bankers, the party has never stopped.

Why would they disown him? His only ‘crime’ has been to do his job properly and to tell us the truth.

When I spoke to him this week, ten years had passed since he did the right thing, at enormous cost to his finances, his career, and his mental health.

An Israeli citizen living and working in Ireland, he thought he was doing his adopted country a huge favour when he approached the Central Bank of Ireland to tell them an unpalatable truth.

A risk manager at the Dublin branch of a major Italian bank, Sugarman was alarmed to note serious liquidity breaches which could have cost the company severe penalties and Sugarman himself five years in prison.

The bank did not have enough money after giving out so many loans at the height of the ‘Celtic Tiger’.

He stepped forward, he went to the Irish police (the Gardai), he told the truth … and nothing happened. There were no dawn raids on his company’s offices, no consequences at all for his bank for failing to play by the rules. He felt he had no option but to resign.

He had warned the Irish banking watchdog that his bank was living beyond its means, little realising at the time that liquidity breaches were widespread across the industry in 2007. Not one bank in Ireland seemed to have the billions of euros required if their customers were to call in their debts.

A year later, the entire Irish banking system collapsed and the Government provided a blanket guarantee which plunged the economy into crisis and resulted in a €64 billion ‘bailout’ at enormous cost to the Irish tax-payer.

It seemed that virtually every bank in the country was in breach of the liquidity regulations, but not one other risk manager had spoken out.

All of them could have been imprisoned for five years, but not one banker in Ireland has been jailed. In Iceland, the corresponding figure is 25. Yet Sugarman has found himself on the margins, unable to work, because he dared to come forward and speak the truth.

A decade on, the same banks are guilty of defrauding 22,000 mortgage holders; these are ordinary Irish people, some of whom have lost their jobs, their relationships, and their homes.

The same bankers and regulators still enjoy their Friday evening gatherings in a select few Dublin hotels and pubs, but Sugarman is no longer invited to the party and his truth-telling has been at an enormous personal cost.

Yet, had the regulators listened, and acted, the massive collapse in the Irish banking system could have been avoided and generations of Irish people would not now be saddled with an enormous debt.

Take Catherine Corless.                                              

Brave historian Catherine Corless had to overcome
hostility from officials in her quest for the truth

When she began to investigate the deaths of so many babies at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, business people in the town became alarmed.

When it emerged that 796 babies were buried in unmarked graves, as Catherine strove to give them a dignity denied them in life, officials blocked her attempts to find out the truth at every possible opportunity.

She never imagined the scale of the tragedy when she started to try to find out what happened to the ‘Tuam Babies’. 

But she persisted after hearing the story of how boys in the town stumbled upon the skulls and bones of babies while playing on the site of the former home in 1974.

Catherine worked tirelessly to discover the truth, despite facing hostility or

indifference from the Bon Secours order which ran the home, the Western Health Board, or Galway County Council.

It was a good job she did not socialise much, because as rumours about her research spread there were murmurings that she should leave well enough alone and that her research only served to harm the image of the town.

Her research was bad for Tuam, it seemed, even though it opened the eyes of the entire world to the way children were treated in 20th century Ireland. And she gave a voice to the survivors.

She has been vindicated this year, her findings verified by the Irish authorities, but only after being the subject of harsh and irrational criticism.

She’s deservedly picking up national awards now for her painstaking research but in April of this year, after her findings were lauded by the Irish Government, Catherine faced personalised abuse from the US.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, described her as a credential-lacking charlatan who was not qualified to carry out her meticulous research in Tuam.

“Contrary to what virtually all news reports have said, Corless is not a historian,” said Donohue. “She not only does not have a Ph.D. in history, she doesn't have an undergraduate degree. She is a typist.”

Amazing how a man who earned a reported salary of $474,876 in 2013 could abuse his position to denigrate a woman who has done all of Ireland a service by shining a light on the deplorable treatment of innocent women and children in 20th century Ireland.

Only for Catherine’s painless research, the world would never have known about the 796 babies who were buried in unmarked graves in Tuam after being branded as “illegitimate” by the Irish authorities.

It seems that Corless’ message was so unpalatable to some senior figures in business, Church, and State, that they were prepared to attack and denigrate the messenger.

And then there’s Sergeant Maurice McCabe, a man who faced a personal hell before being vindicated in 2017.

In Garda Stations all around Ireland, the man was a pariah for the past decade, for daring to point out that the Irish police force’s computer system was being abused so that high profile people could evade convictions.

His revelations seem trivial compared to what we know about the Irish police force now.

In the land of the nod and the wink, of calling in connections, McCabe – like Sugarman – was ostracised for trying to obey the rules.

Colleagues made it impossible for him to turn up for work at Garda Stations and, even worse, rumours began to circulate –at the top levels of the force and among senior media personnel – that McCabe was a sex abuser.

Insiders thrived on the vicious rumours, which circulated without his knowledge, and it was only by accident that the most high-profile Garda whistle-blower in the history of the State found out about them.

Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe

The false, vicious, and completely spurious accusations that he had raped a six year old child were used to ridicule his claims that there was widespread abuse of power being carried out by members of the Garda Siochana.

How could anyone believe this honest Garda when there were such terrible rumours about him?

The smears, which circulated widely for two and a half years, were only unearthed when a member of staff at the child protection agency contacted Sgt McCabe in error about a “wrong” file. Otherwise, he might never have known about the unfounded allegations.

In recent weeks, the Irish public has been shocked to discover, via the policing authorities that two million drink-driving breath tests were fabricated by Gardai in a country with a population of 4.7 million.

In addition, 14,700 wrongful traffic convictions occurred.

Gardai, it seemed, were under pressure from management to “massage” their statistics so that they looked better on paper.

A few high-profile people having their convictions overturned now seems like small beer compared to the widespread misreporting of drink-drive figures all across the country.

In Ireland, it seems, there has been criminal negligence in banking, policing, and the way we take care of our most vulnerable children.

But, instead of admiring those who shine lights in the darkness, we vilify them because they are bad for business, the image of a town, industry or police service.

Because God forbid we listen to the brave souls who are prepared to stand up and point out the wrong-doing at the heart of Irish society.

It’s more convenient to persecute them, tie rats to their doors, or smear them with unfounded allegations, than admit they have done us a wonderful service by blowing a whistle on corrupt or criminal behaviour from those in positions of authority.

It’s easier to destroy a reputation or career than admit there’s a need to change an entire rotten, corrupt culture.

Ciaran Tierney is a journalist, blogger, and digital storyteller, based in Galway, Ireland. Find him on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ciarantierneymedia

Find Ciaran Tierney on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ciarantierney

Hire a ghost blogger or content writer for YOUR website at http://ciarantierney.com/what-i-offer/ghost-blogging-2/

Keep buying the leprechauns

Check out my business website: http://ciarantierney.com/

The horror of Syria: Irish people still don't connect
goings-on at Shannon with the "war on terror"

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns . . . “

In October 2016, a significant increase in the number of US soldiers passing through Shannon Airport was noted by activists who monitor activities at the airport on a daily basis.

The increased activity has been linked to an onslaught against the Iraqi city of Mosul and a marked growth in the number of troops on the ground in both Syria and Iraq.

As Shannon’s role in the US-led “war on terror” enters its 16th year, it’s remarkable that their presence barely merits a mention in the Irish media.

No Garda has ever searched a plane, despite concerns that dangerous chemicals such as white phosphorous and prisoners on their way to and from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba may have been renditioned through Shannon.

We have to rely on the likes of Wikileaks and Trojan investigative work by Shannonwatch peace activists, who track the movement of military and chartered planes, if we are to have any inkling of what’s going on.

Marching for peace at Shannon Airport

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns …”

It can be disconcerting to fly out of Shannon on a quiet midweek evening and find yourself surrounded by hundreds of US soldiers in uniforms.

If you are flying to London on a Tuesday evening, for example, you can sometimes feel like the only civilian in a military zone. 

When you look at the soldiers, you can guess whether they are coming or going depending on the mood.

If they are on their way home, there is a celebratory air in the terminal building as they queue up to buy leprechaun hats or bottles of duty free Irish whiskey they’d be unlikely come across in Syria or Iraq.

They queue to use the public phones and promise their loved-ones, excitedly, that they will be home in just a few hours.

If they are on their way to the Middle East, the mood can be a lot more sombre. There is an eerie silence across the terminal as they ponder on the long trips away from home.

It’s 15 years now since former US President George W. Bush asked “neutral” little Ireland to facilitate his troops in their endless global war.

As we celebrate 100 years since the Easter Rising, it’s incredible that the issue of Ireland’s complicity in war crimes in places like Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan is rarely heard on the national airwaves.

In July of this year, 85 people – including almost a dozen children – lost their lives in a horrific air strike in northern Syria.

The “terrorists” who carried out the attack were members of the US military and could well have passed through Shannon.

The attack wasn’t even mentioned on RTE, the national news station, the following day. It didn’t merit a minute's coverage on the main evening news.

And hardly anyone ever joins up the dots to link the hundreds of US troops passing through Shannon and the appalling atrocities carried out in far-off villages like Tokhar.

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns … “

Earlier this month, a peace conference was organised at Shannon to mark 15 years of the airport’s participation in the “war on terror”.

The respected academics and former military men who organise the monthly Shannonwatch protest at the airport decided to mark the anniversary by inviting guest speakers and encouraging debate.

So they decided to book a room.                                    

A small number of TDs joined the Shannonwatch
15th anniversary demonstration this month

And then the hotel cancelled.

They booked another room in another hotel.

And the second hotel cancelled.

And then a third . . . In all, three hotels in the Shannon region suddenly discovered they were “double-booked” when they discovered the theme of the peace conference.

Sure, we can’t criticise the Americans. They are good for business, no matter what the morality of the presence of so many coalition troops in a “neutral” civilian facility.

So the organisers were forced to hold the peace conference in a tent just outside the perimeter of the airport.

Amazingly, some people who travelled to the peace conference found that the rooms they booked in the three hotels were still available that weekend.

As it transpired, by a strange coincidence, only the rooms the organisers had sought for the peace conference were double-booked.

“The fact that three bookings in three different hotels were cancelled to me is an indication of success rather than failure, and the fact that we were harassed by the authorities here this weekend shows that we are making an impact,” said Dr Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch.

Dr Horgan said Irish people had to make a connection between the US military aircraft which land at Shannon and the bombings in Syria or Iraq which sometimes aren’t even reported on our TV news channels.

He doesn’t give up hope that the peace movement will succeed, even though his small group has been protesting every month for the past 15 years.

“But, but . . . what about the Russians?”

Peace activists in Ireland are often accused of being “anti-American” because they protest against attacks carried out by the US military, but seem silent in the face of horrific atrocities carried out by others.

In Syria, for example, the Russians have been linked to war crimes, such as the bombing of hospitals in Aleppo, which are every bit as bad as atrocities carried out by the Americans in Mosul or Tokhar.

I put this point to Dr Horgan during the recent peace conference.

He said that Veterans for Peace and Shannonwatch (he represents both) condemn Russian and Syrian bombings in Aleppo, just as they condemn US bombings in Mosul.

War-torn Aleppo: 2.5 million US soldiers have passed
through Shannon on their way to war over 15 years

“From our perspective in Ireland, killing civilians is always wrong,” he said. “But the main difference is the Russians are not using Shannon Airport in their war in Syria, while the US is using Shannon Airport several times a day at present to refuel its aircraft.”

He expressed fear that Ireland could become a target for terrorists because of Shannon’s role in allowing troops, munitions, and weapons to be transferred to the Middle East for use in war crimes in civilian areas.

“It’s our responsibility as Irish citizens to stop Ireland's very direct involvement in these war crimes being committed by the United States. There is little we can do to stop Russian bombing except to get our Irish Government to use its influence within the UN to get a ceasefire in Syria.

“I am actually fearful. I didn’t go to Dublin on Easter Sunday for the 1916 commemorations because I was afraid it might be a target. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shannon Airport did become a target. At the moment, it is difficult for the terrorist groups to get to Ireland and that’s the only reason, I think, why we’ve avoided an attack so far.”

Shannon “becomes a target” …

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, when the US military first began to use Shannon for refuelling, it has been estimated that over 2.5 million armed US troops have passed through the airport.

In July 2016, the Irish Government confirmed in the Dail – the Irish parliament – that over 25,000 US troops had passed through Shannon in the first six months of this year.

Among the guest speakers during Shannonwatch’s 15th anniversary peace conference was US-born journalist Robert Fantina of the World Beyond War organisation.           

Calling for an end to Shannon Airport's collusion
in the US-led global "war on terror"

He said he was very surprised when he heard of the level of US troop movements through Shannon.

“By allowing US warplanes to land and refuel here, that violates Irish neutrality. Preventing the planes from refuelling here is not only good for Afghanistan or Ireland, it also shows the world that Ireland wants peace and does not support the US war machine,” he said.

He said that all across the world there needed to be a “cultural change” so that people could focus on peace time economies rather than the economies of war. There are strong vested interests in the arms industry who benefit from perpetual wars.

“People in Ireland might think it’s only a plane or two a week passing through, but they need to realise that these  planes are bringing death and destruction to people just like them. Men, women, and children who just want to go to work or school, live ordinary lives, and raise their families, are dying because planes are being allowed to land here,” said Fantina.

“Additionally, because US war planes are allowed to land here, Shannon becomes a target for organisations which are opposed to US militarism. People need to understand that the ‘war on terror’ is really a war of terrorism. Any place, including Shannon, which allows the US to perform those operations is part of that killing.”

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechaun hats in the airport shops, we’ll be grand … !”

And this week, in Tipperary, some insignificant little committee is set to give the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, a "peace prize".

As if they were blissfully aware of all the atrocities his country has carried out - and the innocent lives lost - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria over the past 15 years.

The whole concept of a US leader flying in to pick up an award in the current climate, days after another appalling attack on civilians in Iraq, devalues the very notion of a "peace prize".

Who cares about villagers in Syria, when the slaughter of 85 of them never even makes it onto our TV screens?

And, sure, isn't it a great way of putting a little Tipperary village on the map?

Sure, it's great to be on such good terms with the Americans, even those who cause endless pain to ordinary, innocent people across the world. But I guess that's another story ...



Find Ciaran Tierney Digital Storyteller on Facebook ...