Protesting is best left to the professionals

AT 7.18pm Maura Harrington walked into the hall. She strode through the centre aisle, all the way to the front of the stage.

Stand back, the big guns are in town. If it’s a protest you want, listen up.

Protests against big infrastructure have become a frequent feature in public life over the last decade or so. An attempt to build an incinerator in Cork Harbour has been resisted with some success. In Dublin, another incinerator project has so far got the better of stiff resistance. In north Co Dublin, vocal and organised protest beat back the siting of a water treatment plant. So far. And then there is the one that has taken up more column inches than all others. Shell To Sea is still fighting the good fight, although the progress of gas through north Mayo now looks likely.