07.02.09
Posted in Archaeology, European Union, News at 6:17 pm by Vincent
Senator David Norris (left) reads parliamentary Questions while Vincent Salafia talks to Shane McEntee, TD (FG)
Tarawatch seeks parliamentary group
Irish Times - Breaking News: 02 July 2009
ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ
Campaign group Tarawatch has written to members of the Oireachtas inviting them to establish a parliamentary group with the intention of lobbying Government on issues relating to the Hill of Tara. Several opposition and independent TDs and Senators, including newly-elected Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan and Senator David Norris were presented with a list of questions for the Government by members of Tarawatch at Dáil Éireann yesterday.
Tarawatch spokesman Vincent Salafia subsequently wrote to the politicians who attended asking them to establish a parliamentary group. He said the group would not only seek to identify a solution to protect the national monument but would also attempt to find a solution that would meet the needs of sustainable development and transport in Co Meath.
“We feel that it is the responsibility of the elected representatives both at European and national level to work in a co-operative manner on this,” Mr Salafia said today. “It would be a platform for all the groups involved to present their opinions and have their say in what the final outcome is. Tara belongs to everybody in Ireland. The majority of Irish people want to have Tara protected. Its not that it’s against the M3 per se - most of the people who want to protect Tara are quite happy for the M3 to proceed – they just don’t want it to go where it is.”
Read the rest of this entry »
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07.01.09
Posted in News, Protests at 7:43 pm by Vincent
Maureen O’Sullivan TD (Ind) takes Parliamentary Questions from Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch, with Aengus O Snodaigh (left) and Martin Ferris (Sinn Fein) behind
PRESS RELEASE - TARAWATCH - 1 July 2009
‘Opposition TDs and Senators Pledge to Challenge Government Over M3 Motorway’
A delegation of approximately 30 TaraWatch members met with Opposition TDs and Senators at the Kildare Street gates of the Dail today, at 1.00 pm. They were handed a series of Parliamentary Questions, for the Ministers for Transport, Environment and Finance, relating to the EU and UNESCO issues at the Hill of Tara. They also asked Oireachtas members to demand a halt to the M3 works at Tara until the European Commission case against Ireland, currently being heard in the European Court of Justice, reaches a decision.
Maureen O’Sullivan, the Independent TD who won the late Tony Gregory’s Dail set in the by-election, said:
“I am happy to meet you and hear your concerns. Deputy Gregory was very much opposed to the M3 at Tara, and made many statements against it.”
Fine Gael Meath TD, Shane McEntee, said:
“Fine Gael is opposed to the tolling of the M3, but we are in favour of jobs for Meath.” When it was pointed out by Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch that a re-routing of the M3 motorway, which could be order by UNESCO, would result in more jobs Meath, he laughed and agreed.
Labour Party TD, Joanna Tuffy, promised to submit Parliamentary Questions and said:
“I am very much in favour of the UNESCO designation of Tara, and will ask Mr Gormley why he delayed submitting the nomination to UNESCO at the Meeting in Seville last week, as promised.
Sinn Fein sent three deputies, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Arthur Morgan and Martin Ferris to met the TaraWatch delegation. Aengus O Snodaigh said:
“Sinn Fein will submit all of the Parliamentary Questions. We remain absolutely opposed the destruction of Tara by the Government and the private companies.
Senator David Norris also offered his support, and complimented the delegation on their commitment. Though he cannot submit Parliamentary Questions as a Senator, he promised to use the materials in other ways, and raise the issue in the Seanad at the soonest opportunity.
However, Green Party TD, Ciaran Cuffe, who had been a strong vocal opponent to the M3 at Tara snubbed the delegation and walked by without comment.
TaraWatch spokesperson Laura Grealish said:
“We are delighted with obvious concern in the Oireachtas over the the Tara M3 issue, and look forward to getting answer to our questions from the Government. We will be continuing to campaign on the issue by making an appeal to the UN during the upcoming visit of the UN Secretary General to Ireland.
ENDS
Brussels takes Ireland to court over Lismullen monument
Meath Chronicle: Wednesday, 1st July, 2009 By Ann Casey
The Government is in the dock in Europe this week over the demolition of a newly discovered national monument at Lismullen in 2007, which occurred during works on the M3 motorway. The European Commission is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice and the case opened last week with the Commission arguing that the decision taken by former Environment Minister, Dick Roche, in 2007 to demolish the newly discovered national monument was contrary to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, which requires independent scientific opinion and public participation.
The Commission says that the National Monuments Act fails to implement the Directive by automatically requiring a new EIA when a national monument is discovered, which was not covered by planning permission. Because the pre-historic site at Lismullen was only identified in 2007, its significance could not be taken into account in a 2003 assessment of the motorway project. Meanwhile, TaraWatch will hold a demonstration outside Dail Eireann at 1pm today (Wednesday) to demand that the Government halt work on the M3 within the Hill of Tara landscape due to the lawsuit.
A number of questions will also be handed to opposition party Oireachtas members at the Dail gates. The questions will be addressed to Ministers for the Environment, Transport and Finance and will query why the Government demolished the Lismullin national monument and why Minister John Gormley opposed the Environment Directive. They are also querying what the financial implications would be if Ireland loses the case. TaraWatch will also ask Opposition parties to join in an appeal to UN Secretary General General Ban Ki-moon for intervention during his upcoming visit to Ireland on next week.
TaraWatch spokesperson, Vincent Salafia, said: “The Government and the public private partners have acted recklessly by proceeding with the M3 and demolishing the Lismullin national monument, despite the statement by the European Commission in 2007 that they were acting in breach of EU law. “Works on the M3 in the Tara landscape and proposed World Heritage Site should cease, until the case being argued this week in the European Court of Justice reaches a conclusion.” Mr Salafia said that enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money was being wasted by the Government in fighting this case, and the consequences of a decision against Ireland could be disastrous. “We are calling on the Opposition parties to take the Government to task on this and to support our appeal to the UN to intervene in this matter,” he said.
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06.30.09
Posted in Archaeology, European Union, News, Protests, unesco at 10:44 am by Vincent
PRESS RELEASE - TARAWATCH - 30 June 2009
- ‘Demand for Halt to M3 at Tara Due to European Commission Lawsuit and Request for UN Intervention to be Made at Dail Tomorrow’
TaraWatch will hold a demonstration outside Dail Eireann on Kildare St tomorrow at 1.00pm, and demand that the Government halt work on the M3 within the Hill of Tara landscape and proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the lawsuit being argued by the European Commission in the European Court of Justice against Ireland this week.
The Commission is arguing that the decision to demolish the newly discovered national monument at Lismullin by Dick Roche in 2007 was contrary to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, which requires independent scientific opinion and public participation, and that the National Monuments Act fails to implement the Directive by automatically requiring a new EIA when a national monument is discovered, which was not covered by planning permission.
A number of Parliamentary Questions will also be handed to Opposition party Oireachtas members at the Dail gates. The questions will be addressed to Ministers for the Environment, Transport and Finance. The topics of the questions will include:
- Why did the Government demolish the Lismullin national monument, after the Commission said not to, with an EIA?
- Why is Minister Gormley acting contrary to Green Party policy and opposing the Environment Directorate on this matter?
- What will the financial implications be if Ireland loses the case?
- Why is the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, proposing to put the M3, the North-South Electrical Connector and the Navan to Dublin railway through the same area Minister Gormley is proposing to make a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
- Why didn’t Minister Gormley submit Tara and other Irish sites to UNESCO at the annual meeting in Seville this week, like he promised?
TaraWatch will also ask Opposition parties to join in an appeal to UN Secretary General General Ban Ki-moon for intervention, and to and him personally initiation of a problem-solving process for the Tara / M3 debacle during his upcoming visit to Ireland on 7&8 July.
TaraWatch spokesperson, Vincent Salafia, said:
“The Government and the public private partners have acted recklessly by proceeding with the M3 and demolishing the Lismullin national monument, despite the demand by the European Commission in 2007 that they were acting in breach of EU law.
“Works on the M3 in the Tara landscape and proposed World Heritage Site should cease, until the case being argued this week in the European Court of Justice reaches a conclusion.
“Enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money have been wasted by the Government in fighting this case, and the consequences of a decision against Ireland could be disastrous.
“We are calling on the Opposition Parties to take the Government to task on this and to support our appeal to the UN to intervene in this matter.
ENDS
Contact: Vincent Salafia 087-132-3365 / info@tarawatch.org
More information:
Commission press release: “Ireland - Commission to bring environmental impact assessment case to the European Court of Justice”
Government criticised by EU over environment
The Irish Times - Tuesday, June 30, 2009
FRANK McDONALD Environment Editor
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s director-general for the environment, Karl Falkenberger, has criticised the Government’s failure to adopt the EU Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Mr Falkenberger said that unlike the waste management and water quality directives, where implementation required significant investment, this directive was an “administrative procedure that doesn’t cost much”.
Referring to a current case against Ireland over the environmental impact assessment carried out for the M3 and Tara, he said the commission “as guardians of EU legislation, have no choice but to see each other in court” when all other efforts to ensure full compliance had failed. Under the directive, member states are obliged to carry out EIAs before projects that could have a significant impact on the environment are authorised. This includes the treatment of a country’s archaeological heritage.
The commission considers Ireland’s approach to decisions involving the removal of historic structures and archaeological monuments to be in contravention of the directive, in a reference to the prehistoric henge at Lismullin, Co Meath, on the path of the M3. Because this site was only identified in 2007, its significance could not be taken into account in an earlier EIA on the motorway project. The Government has argued that the ministerial direction to excavate and record it did not constitute part of the M3 consent. Legal arguments in the case opened last week before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
WRITE TO lettersed@irishtimes.com
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06.28.09
Posted in Archaeology, News at 9:04 am by Vincent
A word to Gormley on his new archaeology code: Tara
By David Kenny
Sunday Tribune - 28 June 2009
“THIS boys,” said Mr Halpin, “will stay with you forever. I hope it makes a big impact.”
Ordinarily, whenever a teacher spoke of making an ‘impact’ at St Joseph’s National School in Glasthule, you started sweating. It normally involved the crack of a bamboo cane. Not on this occasion though. We were about to see something historic. Besides, Halpin always preferred sarcasm to brutality.
He was a bit of a hero. He played Mungo Jerry records in class and showed us how to make free plectrums out of detergent bottles. He also liked cartoons and had a wit as dry as a pub on Good Friday. He seemed to actually like us.
The historic occasion took place on a trip to the National Library in 1979. Myself and two other 11-year-olds, Cianan and Mick, were to choose books for the school. The four of us clowned the day away with Mr Halpin leading the laughter. Afterwards, he took us to see a part of Dublin he hoped we’d remember forever. He hoped seeing it would make an impact on our young minds. It did.
I can still see, through a gap in the hoarding, the muddy timber steps of Wood Quay. “This is going,” he said. “The council is covering it with concrete.” All the way home we simmered with anger, fuelled by his. He told us how protestors had found swords in the builders’ rubble and how the city walls had been razed. He explained how the quay had been named a national monument but the government destroyed it anyway. He told us the only people who wanted the ugly new buildings were politicians.
I still get angry when I pass Wood Quay. Halpin had given us a mental snapshot of our disappearing history. I’ll always have it in my head. Last week, I saw Wood Quay again when John Gormley announced a new archaeological code of practice to protect our monuments. There was the clang of a rusty gate being bolted and the distant neighing of a horse. This is the man who sold Tara to get into bed with Fianna Fail – the party which was responsible for Wood Quay.
Despite being ‘Green’, he has done nothing to halt the M3 ploughing through the Tara/Skryne valley. Instead he has concentrated on defending his predecessor’s demolition of the Lismullin national monument which lay in its way.
Dick Roche contravened European law by failing to commission an environmental impact study on the site. The government has now spent huge sums fighting the European Commission over the issue.
Gormley also spent a bundle drafting last week’s Eirgrid Code of Practice. If the European Court finds against Ireland, the National Monuments Act will have to be amended and the code will have to be redrafted. More money flushed away.
The M3 tolls will go out of Meath to a multinational. More waste.
The mishandling of Tara proves, conclusively, that we are being governed by profligate idiots. The M3 should never have been routed through Tara/Skryne. It was always going to throw up monuments like Lismullin and lead to costly court battles. The obvious thing to do was to route to the west of Tara, avoiding the valley.
The Greens campaigned against the M3. The World Monuments Fund and the Smithsonian Institution have placed it on their their ‘endangered’ lists. Gormley is still pushing ahead with it though.
In December, he hired 15 experts to help draft a list of sites, including Tara, to nominate to Unesco for world heritage status at its annual meeting last Tuesday. No list was delivered.
TaraWatch is continuing its campaign to re-route the road with a protest at the Dail this Wednesday (1pm). They will ask Gormley why the Unesco list wasn’t submitted as it would have tested the M3’s impact on Tara’s heritage status. They will also tell him that his new archaeological code of practice is meaningless while Tara is being vandalised.
Gormley’s betrayal of Tara/Skryne is endorsing Fianna Fail’s traditional approach to the environment – “cover it over with concrete”. That party’s love of unbridled development is the reason why places like Meath became an overspill for Dublin and why its roads desperately need to be improved. They mustn’t be improved at the expense of Tara. It’s bound up with our history. For 800 years it tied our ancestors to a legendary past which was ultimately used to stir up revolution and create our Republic.
The world sees Tara as our spiritual centre. It even features in one of the most popular novels/films of all time. Scarlett O’Hara’s plantation is named after it in Gone With the Wind. Her fictional Tara represents the Irish emigrant’s longing for home. Our real one now stands for longing to get home from work quicker. We need Unesco to protect Tara from ourselves.
Our generation stood by as the government over-developed our country. What will our legacy be? Some Namaesque hulks of buildings? Some half-built estates? A concrete dagger through the heart of Tara? Is this what we want to leave behind for future schoolchildren and young teachers like the late Mr Halpin?
I can imagine him surveying the M3 and sardonically quoting Scarlett’s famous line: “Is Tara still standing or is it gone with the wind?”
Scarlet? He’d be crimson with anger.
WRITE TO: editorial@tribune.ie
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06.25.09
Posted in Archaeology, News at 3:22 pm by Vincent
Irish Times - New Codes to protect archaeological sites - 25 June 2009
PRESS RELEASE - TARAWATCH - 25 June 2009
‘Archaeological Code of Practice Between Eirgrid and Minister for the Environment in Breach of EU Law’
The new Archaeological Code of Practice between Eirgrid and Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is in breach of EU law, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, according to legal advice taken by TaraWatch. That is because the Code relies on the National Monuments Act 2004, which the European Commission is currently attacking in the European Court of Justice. Ireland has already made its submissions, and the Commission is presenting arguments this week.
If the European Court finds against Ireland, then the National Monuments Act will have to be amended, and all codes of practice will have to be redrafted. The Commission’s case is based on the decision made by then Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, to demolish the Lismullin national monument, discovered in the pathway of the M3 motorway in 2007, without performing a new EIA. The national monument was not detected during the planning stages, and planning permission for the M3 did not include demolition of national monuments. The Code and the Act does not require a new EIA in the event of a national monument being discovered, after planning permission is granted.
Vincent Salafia said:
“The Code of Practice between the Minister and Eirgrid is in breach of EU law.
“Minister Gormley has spent a lot of money retaining outside legal counsel to fight the European Commission, and the defend the decision of Dick Roche to demolish the Lismullin national monument.
“The Minister has also spent a lot of money drafting a Eirgrid Code of Practice, that is out of synch with European Law.
“The fact that a Green Party Minister for the Environment would take such a course of action means that the Irish people cannot reply on the Minister or the Green Party to protect Irish heritage, as the Minister would like us to believe.
ENDS
Contact:
TaraWatch - Vincent Salafia 087-132-3365 / info@tarawatch.org
Read the rest of this entry »
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06.24.09
Posted in Events, News, Protests at 11:48 am by Vincent
TaraWatch will hand in a series of Parliamentary Questions (PQs), to be made by members of the Oireachtas and Senate at 1.00pm on Wednesday 1 July, outside Dail Eireann on Kildare Street. Please come down and support us.
Do you have any ideas for questions? Questions need to be divided between Ministers for Transport, Environment, Finance, etc. They also need to be tailored for different political parties, such as tolls for Fine Gael because they don’t care about heritage. Please email ideas to info@tarawatch.org
Contact your local TDs to have them meet us outside the gates and accept our PQs.
Some possible topics might include:
- How much money has Gormley spent on the UNESCO consultation?
- Explain: why the Tentative List was not submitted to UNESCO in Seville?
- How much money has the Minister spent on employing outside counsel to defend the case against Ireland over Lismullin?
- What does the Government propose to do if they lose the case in the European Court of Justice?
- What will the financial implications be if the Government loses?
- What is the current cost of the tolls proposed for the M3?
- How much has the M3 cost so far?
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06.22.09
Posted in News, Protests at 12:25 pm by Vincent
Group calls for Gormley resignation
MICHAEL MCHALE
The Irish Times - Breaking News - Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Governement John Gormley must resign due to his failure to protect Irish heritage sites, representatives of the Save Tara campaign have said.
Members of TaraWatch, the organisation which runs the campaign, held a protest outside Custom House in Dublin today to voice their dissatisfaction with the minister, who they say has reneged on promises to nominate Irish cultural areas such at the Hill of Tara, the Burren and Clonmacnoise to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which meets in Seville today.
“He has totally reneged on his statutory duties to protect Irish heritage and the Irish environment,” said spokesman for the campaign Vincent Salafia.
The group was also critical of the minister’s decision to demolish the Lismullin national monument in order to make way for further developments to the M3 motorway. The move has led to the European Commission bringing a case against Ireland to the European Court of Justice, alleging that the Government here has failed to implement the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.
Mr Salafia is confident that the European Commission will be successful in the case and said that “by failing to let the EU or UNESCO protect Irish heritage sites, John Gormley has done the exact opposite of what a Minister for the Environment is supposed to do.”
WRITE TO: lettersed@irishtimes.com
Campaigners Target Gormley
The Irish Examiner - 24 June 2009
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have criticised Environment Minister John Gormley for the delay in submitting the Hill of Tara for consideration as a world protected heritage site.
Members of TaraWatch, the organisation dedicated to the protection of Tara as a priceless archaeological site, picketed the Green Party leader’s office yesterday at the launch of their ‘Gormley Must Go’ campaign.
The demonstration coincided with a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville.
WRITE TO letters@examiner.ie
Gormley denies u-turn on Tara UNESCO designation
Belfast Telegraph - Breaking News - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Environment Minister John Gormley has denied accusations that he has abandoned his promise to include the Hill of Tara on Ireland’s list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Tarawatch organisation says Mr Gormley has backed out of a pledge to present a revised list of nominated sites - including Tara - to UNECSO in Seville tomorrow. It also says the minister has spent vast amounts of taxpayers’ money defending a lawsuit by the European Commission over the demolition of the Lismullen monument as part of the M3 motorway project in Tara.
Mr Gormley, however, angrily rejected the accusations yesterday, saying the UNESCO site designation would go ahead and he had done “more than any other minister in relation to archaeology”. Tarawatch is planning a protest outside the Department of the Environment today calling on Mr Gormley to resign over his failure to protect Tara.
Read the rest of this entry »
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06.19.09
Posted in Archaeology, Litigation, News at 4:22 pm by Vincent
“Tarawatch yesterday presented a new complaint about the M3 motorway-plan developments, close to the Hill of Tara, Co Meath, to representatives of the EU Commission in Dublin. The new complaint argues that proposals for an electricity interconnector, the M3 motorway and the Navan railway line, are “disjointed developments”. The complaint states that their impact should have been considered together, under the EU’s Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive. Tarawatch was one of a number of non-governmental organisations which met a group of three commission officials in the Custom House. Other groups represented included those associated with the Corrib gas pipeline and the 2003 Derrybrien landslide in Co Galway.”
The Irish Times - 20 June 2009
PRESS RELEASE - TARAWATCH.org - 19 June 2009
‘New Complaint to European Commission Delegation Concerning Hill of Tara‘
TaraWatch will meeting a delegation from the European Commission this morning in the Custom House, along with other Irish environmental NGOs, from 11.00 am to 1.00pm. The Commission is investigating how Ireland can better implement EU environmental law.
TaraWatch will present a new complaint to the Commission, concerning the proposed Hill of Tara UNESCO World Heritage Site, and alleges that disjointed developments in County Meath are a breach of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive. It is currently planned for the site to be traversed by:
- the M3 motorway
- the Navan to Dublin railway line, Phase 2 preferred route
- the North-South Electical Connector
Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said;
“The planning in Meath is simply archaic, and it is ridiculous that three different project are going through a potential World Heritage Site. All three routes, for road, rail and power could and should be be combined into one, which would save a lot of money, and also protect the Tara site. We are asking the Commission to participate in problem-solving initiative to correct the breaches of EU law in County Meath.
ENDS
Contact - Vincent Salafia 087-132-3365 / info@tarawatch.org
DOWNLOAD EU COMPLAINT
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06.16.09
Posted in Archaeology, Historical Importance of Tara, Internet Activism, News at 12:31 pm by Vincent
PRESS RELEASE - TARAWATCH - 10 June 2009
“Gormley Will Not Present Irish Sites to UNESCO at Seville Meeting”
The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, has failed to finalise Ireland’ proposed Tentative List of UNESCO Sites, and his Department will not present the Tentative List to the 33rd Session of the World Heritage Committee in Seville, 22-20 June. This means that possible nomination of Tara and other sites in Ireland will be delayed by a year.
The Minister had advertised a public consultation process last December, calling for nominations to Ireland’s Tentative List. An advisory document sent out a 15-member panel of consultants (Expert Advisory group), said:
“Taking into account the feedback/output from the public consultation fora and interactive website, the Expert Advisory Group will identify the appropriate sites/properties/themes for inclusion on the new Tentative List. The new draft Tentative List will then be submitted to the Minister for his agreement by the middle of April 2009. The intention is to forward the list to the WH Centre in time for the World Heritage Committee 33rd Session in Seville in July 2009.”
Ray Connell, of the Department of the Environment, has confirmed that the Expert Advisory group has failed to set up an interactive web site, for public consultation and failed to compile a new Tentative List. Instead, the List will be submitted by mail, thus avoiding oral presentation at the World Heritage Committee meeting, and preventing any public objections. TaraWatch nominated the Hill of Tara to be a World Heritage Site, but only on condition that the M3 motorway is re-routed first. Our position is supported by the World Monuments Fund and the Smithsonian Institution.
Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:
“John Gormley is delaying the UNESCO nomination of the Hill of Tara, and other Irish sites by a year. The Minister has breached the public consultation guidelines, by failing to submit the proposed List of World Heritage Sites to UNESCO at the upcoming World Heritage Committee Meeting in Seville this month.
“The Minister’s delay is preventing Observers from making oral objections at the World Heritage Committee Meeting, in Seville. The Minister’s delay is also ensuring that the M3 is completed, before UNESCO is brought into the equation, and it is too late to save Tara.
ENDS
URGENT LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN
Dear TaraWatch supporters,
We need you to urgently write a letter to the Irish Newspapers and complain that the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, leader of the Irish green Party, has broken his promise to nominate the Hill of Tara as a UNESCO site, at the World Heritage Committee Meeting in Seville, June 23-30.
Here are the relevant newspapers and addresses, with the last article on Tara/M3 referenced, to use as a hook for the letter:
Diarmuid Doyle’s article, from the Sunday Tribune last week offers a good opportunity to write letters. Write to editorial@tribune.ie
The Irish Times can be reached at lettersed@irish-times.ie and the last articles mentioning Tara and UNESCO are:
M3 motorway ‘ahead of schedule’
Tara endangered, says Smithsonian
Tara proposed as Unesco world heritage site
The Irish Independent can be reached at indpendent.letters@unison.independent.ie
recently had an article about the windfall of profits made by landowners
The Irish Examiner takes letters without a reference to an article, of which there have been very few. letters@examiner.ie
The Meath Chronicle has been active lately, and can be reached at ken@meathchronicle.ie
Recent stories on Tara / M3 include:
Hill of Tara nominated for World Heritage Site status
Hill of Tara included in review of heritage sites
New dual carriageway to M3 interchange opens in Navan
Please try and write a letter, pointing out that Gormley decided to make Tara a World Heritage Site last December. He spent a lot of money employing 15 consultants to sit on an Expert Advisory Panel, to conduct the public consultation, and the stated aim was to submit the revised Tentative List to UNESCO at the Seville meeting in June. Now, that is not going to happen. Why?
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06.13.09
Posted in Archaeology, News, unesco at 4:17 pm by Vincent
Outgoing MEP questions delay of proposed sites for Ireland’s UNESCO Tentative List
11 Jun 2009 - by Kathy Sinnott MEP
Outgoing MEP for Munster Kathy Sinnott has today questioned Minister John Gormley’s failure to finalise Ireland’s proposed Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
This means that the Department of Environment will not present the Tentative List to the 33rd Session of the World Heritage Committee in Seville in July and that possible nomination of Cork Harbour, Tara and other sites around Ireland will be delayed by a year.
Commenting Mrs. Sinnott said “I am deeply concerned to hear about this delay in Ireland’s Tentative List especially in the case of the proposed sites of Cork Harbour and Tara. Cork City and Harbour area has been nominated as a World Heritage Site with its naval base at Haulbowline, Spike Island and the harbour forts. The EU has already named parts of the harbour as Special Areas of Conservation and there are proposals to have areas named National Heritage Areas. However, this important site is also under threat from the proposed incinerator at Haulbowline, which I have been campaigning against for some time. There is a growing awareness of the value of Cork Harbour as an area with great potential in areas such as the National Maritime College, marine activities both recreational and commercial, tourism and sustainable enterprise. The use of Cork Harbour to site a massive toxic incinerator threatens all positive and sustainable development in the harbour. By delaying its UNESCO status, we are allowing the destruction to continue.”
“The group TaraWatch nominated the Hill of Tara to be a World Heritage Site, but only on condition that the M3 motorway is re-routed first. This delay will mean that the destruction of one of Ireland’s most valuable cultural and heritage sites will continue. The naming of Tara as a UNESCO site would be a means of preventing further destruction of heritage in the vicinity of the area. We have lost critical heritage sites in the Tara Skryne Valley already and need to preserve what is left,” said Kathy Sinnott.
The Minister had advertised a public consultation process last December, calling for nominations to Ireland’s Tentative List. However, the Department of the Environment has confirmed that the Expert Advisory Group has failed to set up an interactive web site for public consultation and failed to compile a new Tentative List.
Continued Mrs. Sinnott “Minister Gormley has in fact breached the public consultation guidelines by failing to submit the proposed List of World Heritage Sites to UNESCO at the upcoming World Heritage Committee Meeting in Seville. This delay is ensuring that the M3 is completed, the Ringaskiddy incinerator continues and it will be too late to save both Tara and Cork Harbour. I wonder if this delay is just a failure of the Department of Environment to do the necessary homework or is the delay deliberate as to play into the hands of Indaver and the NRA? I urge Minister Gormley to explain the delay fully and to do whatever it takes not to delay the completion of ourTentative List further so that Ireland can present the list in July.”
ENDS
Note to Editor
Further information is available on
UNESCO Tentative Lists
Expert Advisory Panel guidelines for public consultation
The existing tentative nomination list for world heritage sites dates back to 1992 and includes Killarney National Park, Cashel, Clonmacnoise and the Burren. UNESCO reccomends that a State Party updates its Tentative List every ten years, so a review of Ireland’s list is well overdue. Other proposed sites are Monasterboice, Glendalough, Durrow, Clonmcnoise and Inis Cealtra as well as Cork City and Harbour and the Hill of Tara.
There are currently three UNESCO world heritage sites in Ireland, which are The Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim, inscribed in 1986, Bru na Boinne Co. Meath which includes the neolithic monuments of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, inscribed in 1993, and Skellig Michael Co. Kerry, inscribed in 1996.
The World Heritage List currently has 878 properties, 679 of which are cultural, 174 natural and 25 mixed in 145 State Parties.
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