Solidarity Cllr Mick Murphy and Lisa Maher speak about the Jobstown trial

ONE of the men acquitted of all charges in relation to a protest in Jobstown, has spoken out at media assertions regarding social media comments made during the trial.
 Solidarity Councillor Mick Murphy said “I think you can’t control public comment on Social Media, it is an open newspaper.”
“Journalists from the main newspapers are just worried that people, via social media, are blowing holes in their agenda”.

When asked about the concerns raised as to how such online commentary might endanger the way juries are picked and operate during court cases, the Tallaght Central Representative added “There is no legal understanding that says what is said to a jury, cannot be said to the public”
“There were numerous persons monitoring what was being said on social media throughout the trial, and it wasn’t until the last week, when Paul Murphy TD was asked to remove tweets he had retweeted from his twitter account”.

He then spoke about plans by Fine Gael TD and lawyer Josepha Madigan to bring legislation to The Dáil that seeks to clamp down on social media comment re trials that are in situ;
“The various legal people in our trial were at pains to reiterate that it is important that that justice is done and seen in public, and in my view the coverage online by the Tallaght Echo, in particular, was far more accurate than that published by the mainstream media”

 

Mr Murphy also questioned those claiming the protest in Jobstown on 14 November 2014, was excessively violent; “It was not established in court that there was violence.
Yes, there was some egg throwing on the fringes of the protest, which were inexcusable and wrong, but the main protest featured ‘sticks and stones stuff, name calling and the like, and that’s it”.

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy has called for a public enquiry into the conduct of the Gardaí, from the day people were initially arrested, to the trial itself, a call which Cllr Murphy echoes; “Paul called a street meeting in Jobstown before the Gardaí arrived to try and put some order on proceedings”
“Various Gardaí claimed in sworn testimony they heard him say “Will we keep her here all night?”, but nobody at that protest uttered those words.
I was also accused of directing people via megaphone, but the video evidence also showed I did no such thing”.

When asked as to his future plans, the Solidarity councillor said he will now focus his energies on supporting those who are still before the courts as a result of the Jobstown protest, and is looking forward to getting back to a 9-5 routine. 

I also spoke to his wife and fellow long time left wing activist and solidarity member Lisa Maher.

"I'll never forget the day he was arrested.  I woke up and was shocked to see Mick's car still in the driveway, as he is usually gone by 7am, but I had no sight or sound of him.
But for neighbours ringing me to tell me what had happened I don't know what I would have done, Mick didn't even get a chance to let me know he was being arrested etc, and I was toally in the dark til my phone rang."

I also raised with Lisa the issue of social media comment during the trial, and the media outcry that followed when the trial had ended.
"The Defence said it would be preferable if the men on trial, and their families did not comment on the internet about the trial, and we agreed to that request, and we kept our promise too.
Anytime improper comments were put online by others, we did our best to ensure such comments were removed as soon as possible".
Regarding the media reporting during the trial Mrs. Maher was very critical of one particular aspect; 
The media published everything that Joan Burton said in the witness box, including, including unsavoury and untrue things she said about the people of Jobstown"

I explained to Lisa that when I saw the men coming out of the court on the day they were acquitted via the Six One News, she was behind them, and her skin was as white as paint.
I asked the long time activist as to how she felt after the men's acquittal?
"I am not in a celebratory mood, I am very angry that the men were put on trial.
I will continue to build and recruit new people into Solidarity so that it becomes bigger than the Labour Party.
I will not let up to make things better for ordinary people"

The Whitechurch couple can now look forward to more leisurely walks with their two new pugs, and Mick is also preparing himself to get himself back into the 9-5 scheme of things, putting his vast wealth of engineering knowledge into good use, as he and his wife steadfastly support the others still before the courts in relation to the protest in Jobstown on the 15th of  November 2014.  

ALL PHOTOS (c) SEÁN HEFFERNAN