Five cross-party TDs and a Senator today joined together to demand the criminal charges faced by five anti-war protesters be dropped.
The trial of the five, who are accused of damaging a US Navy plane at Shannon Airport, collapsed earlier this week after defence lawyers suggested the judge had been invited to both of President George W Bush's presidential inaugurations and attended the first one in 2000.
It is the second time in six months that a mis-trial has been declared in this case on the basis of "perceived bias". The first trial was also abandoned when Judge Frank O'Donnell withdrew it from the jury on the sixth day of the trial.
Five TDs - the Labour Party's Joe Costello; John Gormley of the Green Party; Aengus O'Snodaigh, of Sinn Féin and Independent TDs Tony Gregory and Finian McGrath have joined Senator David Norris in signing a statement which questions whether a fair trial is now possible.
"Despite the presumption of innocence being a pillar of a democratic society, the ongoing punishment of these five peace activists through strict bail conditions and the threat of future incarceration is a disgraceful criminalisation of peaceful dissent," the statement says.
All the signatories welcomed the opportunity to show their solidarity with the protesters and Mr McGrath commended them as the Rosa Parks of 2005. "They are not criminals and should not be treated as such," he said
Mr Costello said he had been in Shannon during the summer and it was "flooded" with US soldiers. "We are not just providing fuel for planes but welcoming and hosting soldiers on Irish soil," he said.
Mr O'Snodaigh condemned the treatment of the protestors and said it was a "scandal" they were put on trial in the first palace. "It's scandalous it continued and a bigger scandal that judge in this case actually took on the case - it's all been an absolute waste of tax-payers money."
When questioned about whether they would support the same kind of direct, perhaps illegal, action in the future, Mr Gormley said that he thought that if lives were going to be saved and property was going to be saved then the action was indeed justifiable. Although he added that he was not in a position to urge anyone to take any kind of action.
Mr O'Snodaigh said that he supports direct action and that in this case the war in Iraq was a clear breach of international law and Irish law, which the State is not willing to apply. He went on to say that perhaps if other people throughout the world took the same action "the US may have thought twice about going to war and continuing the war in Iraq."
The five accused, who have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of causing damage without lawful excuse to a US naval aircraft have been remanded on continuing bail until this Friday.