Artist and peace activist Margaretta D’Arcy has been transferred from Limerick Prison to Mountjoy in Dublin, her family confirmed today.
The 79-year-old Aosdána member, who is entering the second month of a three-month sentence, was informed that she was to be transferred to the Dóchas women’s prison this morning , her son Finn Arden said.
“I spoke to her by telephone and she was in good form,” Mr Arden said.
His mother was imprisoned in mid-January for refusing to sign a bail bond to uphold the law and keep away from unauthorised zones at Shannon airport, following imposition of a suspended sentence for illegal incursion of the runway at Shannon on October 7th, 2012.
She is suffering from cancer and has arthritis.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice said there are no plans to offer her early release from prison on compassionate grounds.
Former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday has appealed to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter as have a number of MEPs and several TDs, but the department has said that Mr Shatter believes resolution of the matter “rests entirely with the individual concerned”, as stated in the Dáil.
Ms D’Arcy has been visited in a private capacity by Sabina Coyne, wife of President Michael D Higgins, and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, and was in court again earlier this week relating to protests over US military use of Shannon.
