Eimear Walshe, who represented Ireland at the 2024 Venice Biennale, will face trial starting tomorrow for a case centering around the artist’s involvement in a protest against the US military staged at an airport in their home country.
Walshe will appear in court alongside Áine Treanor and Aindriú de Buitléir, who, alongside Walshe, are known as the Shannon Three. Their protest was staged in 2024 at the Shannon Airport in the country’s southern County Clare, where they were arrested by Irish law enforcement.
According to the Irish broadcaster RTÉ, between 2022 and 2024, nearly 2,000 aircraft associated with the US Armed Forces and American civil operators used the Shannon Airport. As RTÉ noted, the Shannon Airport is geographically useful to the military because it is near Europe.
By the time the RTÉ report was published, the Ditch had already reported that nine civilian aircrafts that flew through Shannon Airport had carried munitions that were en route to Israel.
On March 30, 2024, de Buitléir, Treanor, and Walshe raised a Palestinian flag before two Boeing planes that had arrived at Shannon Airport. During a protest that reportedly shut down the airport for more than a half hour, they also held a sign that read “US military out of Ireland.” The protest was held on Land Day, which raises awareness for Palestinians and marks the day that, in 1976, Israel confiscated 2,500 acres of land owned by Arabs.
After the three activists were released from custody, de Buitléir said, “We have to do more. Every day we have to do more. We need to keep the pressure on the Irish Government. We need sanctions now and we need US warplanes out of Shannon.”
The Venice Biennale opened in April of that year, and Walshe’s pavilion was staged as planned. Since then, the artist has continued to face legal penalties in Ireland, where authorities claimed that Walshe and the other two activists trespassed at the airport, illegally obtaining access to the runway. According to Front Line Defenders, an Irish human rights organization, they may now face a fine of €250,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.
At least one Irish institution has spoken out in support of Walshe: the Limerick-based EVA International, Ireland’s top biennial, whose leadership signed a letter of solidarity with the artist.
