= January 29, 2003 = = (20:49) The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, said security at S= hannon airport will be stepped up following this morning's attack on a US= military aircraft. = A 50-year-old woman appeared at Killaloe District Court this afternoon ch= arged with causing damage to the US Navy plane. = Mary Kelly, with an address at the Peace Camp at Shannon, was charged wit= h causing damage to a US Navy 737 airplane, belonging to the US governmen= t, without lawful excuse. advertisement = = = advertisement = The Court was told that when she was arrested by Garda=ED on the airport = tarmac at 5am, she had a hatchet in her hand. = Garda=ED said up to €500,000 worth of damage was done to the plane = - to the nose, the nose wheel, the hydrolics and the electrics and that t= he cost of the damage was likely to be revised upwards. = The Court was told it was Ms Kelly's defence that she acted with lawful e= xcuse. Mary Kelly was initially remanded in custody with consent to bail = on her own surety of €5,000. = She was ordered to leave County Clare immediately, surrender her passport= , and sign on three times a week at Skibbereen Garda Station. However, she refused to sign the bail bond and was remanded in custody to= appear at Tulla District Court on 5 February. Support for action The Green Party leader Trevor Sargent has defended the action, claiming t= hat there was a justification for non-violent direct action against the U= S war effort against Iraq. = And the Irish Anti-War movement commended the direct action, saying whoev= er damaged the plane obviously felt strongly enough about the issue to ch= allenge the physical presence of US military aircraft using Shannon Airpo= rt = Roger EWROPS