Shannon war machine

Anti-war campaigner and writer Margaretta D’Arcy could be released from Limerick Prison if she signs a bond pledging to stay out of Shannon Airport, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told the Dáil. (Irish Examiner, February 7).

Ms D’Arcy, of course, has declared that she will not put her name to such an undertaking because of the strength of her opposition to the US military presence at the airport.

But why is she being asked to sign such a bond in the first place? And why is she in prison for not doing so, as if she poses a grave threat to the state? The very notion of a signed bond is surely an admission that the state cannot protect the restricted areas of Shannon Airport from a slow-moving, albeit very determined, 79-year-old who suffers badly from arthritis and has cancer.