While you were stepping over vomit in Temple Bar or hiding away from the world as the Paddy’s Day vortex swept through the nation, this video of activists pulling stunts in Shannon Warport was gaining viral momentum.

Their rendition of Irish Eyes Are Smiling was filmed on March 15th but didn’t last long as the boys in hi-viz descended to cut their antics short.

Speaking of the incident, Dylan Tighe a musician said:

“As St. Patrick’s Day looms I want to help focus attention on the fact that the shamrock is stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of lives taken by the U.S military campaign, of which Shannon is an essential component. Is this the kind of Ireland we want to celebrate? The sight of Irish politicians celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S is grotesque while human rights abuses and death continue to be facilitated by the Irish government’s gift of Shannon airport to the U.S war machine. I hope my actions can in some way draw attention to the shameful complicity of the Irish government in mass murder”.”

While Donal O’Kelly, a writer and director said:

“At this time of year when a bowl of shamrock is handed over in the White House as a symbol of the gombeen attitude of our leaders, it’s vital to challenge the hypocrisy of the neutral Irish state letting its second airport be used as a warport by the US. How many rendition kidnap flights flew through Shannon with prisoners now in Guantanamo for more than a decade without trial, many force-fed for months? We’ll never know because military flights were not and are not inspected. I feel compelled to use whatever artistic skills I might have to challenge glib acceptance of the use of Shannon by the US army, as a gesture of solidarity with those far-off communities suffering attack by US armed forces with the complicit aid of Shannon Airport. Not in my name, not with my compliance”.

The antics were organised by AFRI, an NGO with a particular focus on neutrality.