Mr Wallace and Ms Daly were intercepted by Shannon Airport security and subsequently arrested in July 2014 after they attempted to carry out an inspection of a U.S. military Hercules C-130 and another military airplane which were parked next to the airport’s main runway.
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The Wexford TD was previously convicted and fined for breaching the grounds of Shannon airport during a protest a year ago.
Deputy Wallace was arrested in Dublin this morning and has arrived at Limerick Prison within the last few minutes. He won’t have to sign on.
The 60-year-old was beginning a 30-day jail term in lieu of the fine.
Speaking outside Limerick prison, he said: “I had a moral duty not to pay it. Myself and Clare Daly got over the fence to keep the peace not break it. We completely disagree with the judgement on the day and I think it’s just horrific that we still allow Shannon to be used as a military airbase”.
He was later released after about two hours in detention, at around 4.30pm.
Prison Authorities Headquarters took the decision to release him since it was for a minor offence and cell space is in short supply.
The Wexford politician who was arrested on Wednesday morning by appointment following the non-payment of a fine is understood to have been freed from Limerick Prison shortly after 4pm. “I was asked to call around to the place and that’s what happened, and I ended up coming down here and spending a couple of hours (in jail), and I was released”.
“The idea of sending me to prison for trying to protect innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria is absolute madness anyway”, he said.
Mr Varadkar said he would have “serious concerns” that they might miss very important votes because they are in prison.
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“But what it does is, it puts the spotlight now on the whole issue of neutrality and on the issue of the use of Shannon Airport and we need to now start the wind down of the use of that airport by foreign military because the economic arguments that are made about it, they just don’t stack up”. “These people don’t care”, he said.
