Peace protestors march on factory

ANTI-WAR protestors last night marched on Compaq’s Galway plant in protest at the firm’s involvement in work crucial to the French and US nuclear weapons programmes.

The protest comes after details of the Ballybrit plant’s connections to nuclear weapons development were revealed by the Irish Examiner on Tuesday.

Confidential company documents revealed a Compaq division was involved in computer design and the production of operating software for computers used for the simulated testing of nuclear weapons.

Compaq was taken over by Hewlett Packard in a deal finalised this May.

Dressed as weapons inspectors, some 20 members of the Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) protested at the plant.

They said the involvement of the Galway facility in nuclear weapons programmes was a serious breach of trust in a city that was a nuclear-free zone.

A Department of Enterprise inquiry into the exports of the Galway facility is continuing.

A Hewlett Packard statement released last night read: “HP can confirm that its subsidiary operation, the Compaq Computer International BV in Galway, is assisting the Department of Enterprise fully.”