10 Facts About Maura Harrington

Maura Harrington was born on 15 September 1953 and is a spokesperson for the Shell to Sea campaign, from County Mayo, Ireland.

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

Maura Harrington appeared in Belmullet District Court on 8 October 2008 accused of a public order offence related to a protest when President Mary McAleese attended the official opening of a civic centre in Belmullet in April 2007.

Maura Harrington was found guilty of assaulting a Garda during a fracas which saw several protesters injured.

The judge in the case, Mary Devins, wife of the Fianna Fail TD Jimmy Devins, directed Maura Harrington to receive a psychiatric assessment due to what she described as her "bizarre" behaviour 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.

Maura 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.

On 6 April 2009, Maura 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.

In July 2009, Maura Harrington was jailed for four months for public order offences relating to demonstrations, a sentence which was appealed.

In February 2010, Judge Raymond Groarke accused Maura 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.

In December 2018 Maura Harrington was a speaker at a protest held in Strokestown, County Roscommon, where roughly 1,000 people gathered to protest against the eviction of a family from their home.