01.05.10
Posted in Law Library, Litigation, News at 10:12 pm by Vincent
Protesters clash with security workers at the M3 motorway site at Rath Lugh in Co Meath in 2008. Photograph: PA
Expulsion of US lawyer to be investigated
The Irish Times – Monday, January 4, 2010
THE GARDA Ombudsman is to investigate a complaint by environmental group Tarawatch about the detention and repatriation of an American human rights lawyer. Matt Schwoebel (27), lawyer and programme director of 2048 Project, a human rights project at Berkeley Law School at the University of California, arrived in Dublin on November 23rd. Mr Schwoebel had been invited to Ireland by Tarawatch to take statements from protesters who had objected to the construction of the M3 motorway close to the Hill of Tara. He was to advise the group on its appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the treatment of the objectors. He had also intended to investigate the Garda’s role in monitoring the actions of Tara campaigners. He was stopped by the Garda National Immigration Bureau and questioned about his trip and then told he could not enter the State. The reason given was he had insufficient funds. Mr Schwoebel said he gave gardaí the website of the Tarawatch campaign so they could contact spokesman Vincent Salafia to validate he was staying with him. He also said he had $100 in cash with him and a Visa card with several thousand dollars in his account.
“I offered to take out $1,000 before I left the airport,” he said. He described his dealings with gardaí as hostile from the beginning and said he believed gardaí did not attempt to contact Mr Salafia to verify his story. He was then put on a flight back to San Francisco. Mr Salafia made an official complaint about the incident on behalf of Mr Schwoebel to the Garda Ombudsman. In a letter seen by The Irish Times , the Ombudsman’s office said it was appropriate to refer the complaint to the Garda Commissioner. “The Ombudsman has decided the complaint should be investigated by a Garda investigating officer supervised by the Garda Ombudsman,” the letter said. Mr Salafia said he believed Mr Schwoebel had sufficient funds to support himself in Ireland and was denied entry because of his intention to carry out legal work for Tarawatch. He said he hoped the matter would be resolved as quickly as possible so that Mr Schwoebel could return to Ireland to carry out his work.
- FIONA GARTLAND
WRITE TO: lettersed@irishtimes.com
Permalink
12.22.09
Posted in Archaeology, News, unesco at 12:10 pm by Vincent
PRESS RELEASE | TARAWATCH | 22 December 2009
‘Public Consultation for UNESCO World Heritage List Ends Tomorrow’
The public consultation period for public comment on the proposed Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ireland ends tomorrow. The proposed list was published on 2 November by Minister for the Environment John Gormley and includes the Hill of Tara as part of a group of sites entitled ‘Royal Sites of Ireland’.
Today, TaraWatch submitted their comment in which they support the nomination, but only on condition that the Minister immediately engage with UNESCO and initiate an Action Plan to mitigate the damage caused to the site by the M3 motorway.
The Minister initiated the public consultation in 2008, and promised to submit the List in 2009. However, instead the Minister published the List a second time, held a second public consultation, and delayed submission of the List until 2010.
The TaraWatch submission states that the Minister is in breach of Irish and EU law, human rights law, as well as the UNESCO Convention itself, by failing to take any meaningful action to protect the site.
Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:
“We support the nomination of the Hill of Tara to the UNESCO List, but only on condition that there is an Action Plan put in place immediately, to mitigate the damage caused by the M3 motorway.
“The Minister’s failure use his statutory powers to take decisive action to protect the Hill of Tara, since he came into office in 2007, is a breach of Irish, EU and international law, as well as of the human rights of present and future generations.
ENDS
MORE INFORMATION:
TaraWatch UNESCO nomination of Hill of Tara – 2008
Gormley published draft UNESCO Tentative List – 2 November 2009
Minister’s Tentative List Submission Form
Ministers Press Release – 17 July 2009
TaraWatch submission below
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.29.09
Posted in Law Library, Litigation, News at 11:25 am by Vincent
Tara rights lawyer is deported back to US
Mail on Sunday – 29 November 2009
By Neil Michael, Chief Reporter
A LAWYER from the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, has been deported back to the US as he attempted to enter Ireland to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the Government. Matt Schwoebel wanted to take statements from protesters objecting to the construction of the M3 motorway through the Hill of Tara. He is drafting a complaint to the UN Commission on Human Rights about the way the government has handled objections and treated those who made them.
When he arrived at Dublin Airport, officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau informed him he would not be allowed into the country. They told him he might have to stay in a detention centre until his flight home could be booked. Mr Schwoebel claims that before the decision was taken to reject him, he was questioned about where he was going in the country and who he was staying with. The 27-year-old lawyer – who is an American citizen – told them he was going to be staying with a leading anti-M3 Motorway campaigner, Tara Watch’s Vincent Salafia. Shortly afterwards, he was informed he would not be allowed into the country – where he had only planned to stay a week.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “I am not happy with the way I was treated and intend to lodge a formal complaint against the Gardai. I was accused of not having enough funds, despite having several thousands in my debit account and more in credit cards. I also had people to stay with and vouch for me but this was also not enough. It became pretty clear to me that they just did not want to let me into the country.”
According to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, ‘leave to land’ – the phrase which applies to being let pass through immigration control on arrival in an airport – upon arrival in the State is ‘subject to immigration controls on the ground’. As a US citizen, Mr Schwoebel did not need a visa to gain entry. But anyone arriving in the country must be ‘able to satisfy an immigration officer that they have sufficient funds to support themselves during their visit’. Exactly how much cash visitors need to have is not stipulated anywhere on Irish government websites. Nor are there any guidelines which state that credit and debit cards do not count as means of self support.
Mr Schwoebel, who is based at California’s human rights group 2048, arrived in Dublin from San Francisco via Chicago at 8.35am last Monday. He had with him $100 cash, an address to stay in Dublin, cousins and a grandmother living in Ireland, and a staff job with the University of California. After staying in Ireland for a week, he was planning to head to Geneva, where he was due to work with a number of UN officials on organising a human rights conference at the start of December.
When has was asked about where he was going to stay, he mentioned Mr Salafia – a lecturer in environmental legislation at Queen’s University Belfast who lives in south Dublin. He also gave the gardai Mr Salafia’s mobile number and said that he could vouch for him as he was staying with him. Despite saying they would call him, Mr Salafia said last night he did not receive a call from any member of the Garda National Immigration Bureau.
Mr Salafia said last night: ‘”I am ashamed that such an eminent guest was so horrendously treated. Despite offering to withdraw €900 from his own account at an ATM machine – and having the funds to do so – Mr Schwoebel was told not to bother. When he was informed of the decision to block his entry into the country, he offered to buy his own return ticket back to the US but this was rejected. Instead the cost of the flight was picked up by the Irish tax-payer. ‘I had the funds to do so – as in deed I had the funds to support my brief stay in Ireland.’
WRITE TO letters@mailonsunday.ie
Permalink
11.04.09
Posted in Archaeology, Historical Importance of Tara, News, unesco at 11:52 pm by Vincent
Dear TaraWatch supporter,
Thank you for your continued support of the campaign to save Tara from the M3. This week, a new Tentative List of Ireland’s proposed World Heritage Sites was published by the Department of the Environment, and it includes Tara. The Hill of Tara landscape should be a World Heritage Site, but not with a motorway being built through the middle of it. UNESCO must demand a re-routing of the road, like they are at Stonehenge. Please write letters to the editor at: independent.letters@independent.ie in response to the article below. Also make your views known to John Gormley, Minister for the Environment, at minister@environ.ie and worldheritagetentativelist@environ.ie
Cheers,
TaraWatch
Shortlist for world heritage status is drawn up
Irish Independent – Monday November 02 2009
By Paul Melia
GEORGIAN Dublin and the Tara complex are among a list of potential world heritage sites being prepared by Environment Minister John Gormley. Today, a list of potential nominees to the World Heritage List will be published, which also asks UNESCO to consider protecting the Burren and Ceide Fields and north Mayo boglands. But there’s bad news for Killarney National Park and the bogs of Clara, Co Offaly, which have been dropped from the list. Instead, an expert group wants to honour Georgian Dublin and the capital’s literary heritage, which has seen Dubliners George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett garner two Nobel Prizes for Literature. World Heritage sites are considered to be of ‘outstanding universal value’ and are defined as being of “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity”.
Inscribed
Ireland currently has three sites — The Giant’s Causeway in Co Antrim, which was inscribed in 1986, Bru na Boinne in Co Meath (1993), and Skellig Michael in Co Kerry (1996). The new list recommends the Burren, Ceide Fields and north-west Mayo Boglands, Clonmacnoise, Dublin — A Georgian City and its Literary Tradition, Early Medieval Monastic Sites, the Royal Sites of Ireland and Western Stone Forts. “It is now much more difficult to meet the UNESCO requirements for inscription,” Mr Gormley said. “I believe that the draft list contains a list of those Irish properties which are of outstanding universal value and which meet the UNESCO inscription requirements.”
Public consultation – stakeholders – Deadline December 23.
There will be consultation with stakeholders and interested parties before any region is formally nominated. Last October, the minister established an Expert Advisory Group to carry out a review of Ireland’s 1992 Tentative List of potential sites for nomination. The next stage is that local authorities and communities will be consulted in relation to potential sites in their areas and there will be an opportunity to make observations on the draft new Tentative List. The deadline for submissions on the current list is December 23. The World Heritage List has almost 900 properties, including the Alhambra in Spain, Red Square in Russia and Acropolis in Greece.
MORE INFORMATION:
TaraWatch UNESCO Consultation Site
Contact: info@tarawatch.org
Permalink
10.11.09
Posted in News at 9:47 am by Vincent
Ciaran Cuffe and Trevor Sergent of the Green Party, before selling out Tara and making the deal to enter Government
PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 10.10.09
‘Programme for Government a Renewal of Broken Promises’
The Renewed Programme for Government (PfG), approved today by the Green Party, is simply a renewal of the broken promises made by the Greens already, and again postpones any real improvements to protection of heritage and provision of public transport. With regards to heritage, the PfG states:
“In consultation with local communities, we will actively promote new sites for acceptance onto the UNESCO World Heritage List, including Clonmacnoise, Tara, the Burren and Georgian Dublin.”
Public consultation already occurred, between December 2008 and March 2009, and the new UNESCO list was promised by Gormley to be delivered in Seville, in June 2009. The Green Party intentionally delayed this process, so as not to interfere with the M3, until it is opened. The PfG states:
“We will implement the agreed recommendations of the review of archaeological policies and practices in the National Monuments Bill.”
This Bill was originally promised for 2008, then 2009. Now it is promised for 2010. There is no substance to the promise and no guarantee of increased protections. The PfG states:
“We will make provision in upcoming planning legislation to prevent Local Authorities from removing buildings of national or regional importance from the Record of Protected Structures, without the explicit approval of the Minister for the Environment.”
This protection already exists in the National Monuments Act 2004, and the promise is illusory. With regards to transport, the PfG states:
“Following the completion of payments for the major motorways programme in 2011, the ratio of expenditure on new Transport 21 projects between public transport and the national roads programme will be 2:1 in favour of public transport.”
This is what Fianna Fail planned anyway, once all the major motorways, including the M3 are completed. The roads programme should have been cut in 2007, to have any real impact on carbon reduction. It is business as usual in the Department of Transport. With regards to environmental legislation, the PfG also states:
“We will ensure that Ireland can ratify the Aarhus Convention by March 2010.”
The PfG does not state “will”, but only says “can”. Ireland is the only country is Europe not to have ratified AARHUS. They can do it now, but Fianna Fail don’t want to. This is a massive failure for the Greens.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
10.01.09
Posted in Law Library, News, Protests at 1:21 pm by Vincent
Cartoon by Martyn Turner, The Irish Times, 02 Oct 2009
PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 01 October 2009
‘Demonstrations at Green Party Convention for Delay of National Monuments Bill’
TaraWatch and environmental groups will hold a demonstration at the Green Party Special Convention on Saturday 10 August, condemning Minister for the Environment, John Gormley’s, postponement of the National Monuments (Amendment) Bill 2009, until 2010. The Act was originally promised to be published in 2008.
On entering Government, the Minister promised a new Act, and initiated a public consultation for it on 25 October 2007: “Soon after entering office I promised I would review Archaeological Policy and Practice and today I am delivering on that commitment,” Minister John Gormley said. In response to written Parliamentary Questions, the Minister said, on 9 July 2009: “The Expert Advisory Committee I established to review archaeological policy and practice submitted its recommendations on improving and updating national monuments legislation in February 2009, following which work began on the preparation of Heads of a Bill. This is now at an advanced stage and I expect to circulate the Heads to other Departments for consideration shortly. However, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan revealed in Dáil debates on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 that the legislation would not be published until 2010.
Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said: “There will be strong opposition to the Green Party’s sell-out of the Hill of Tara and all of Ireland’s national monuments, at their Special Convention. We see nothing in the current proposals for a new programme for Government that is designed to increase protections for Ireland’s rich cultural heritage, which is still being decimated. The reality is Minister Gormley has intentionally delayed making Tara and other national treasures UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and now is intentionally delaying the new National Monuments Act. The Greens have lost all credibility and no longer have a mandate to represent the public on green issues.
ENDS
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
09.16.09
Posted in News, Tolls, Transport at 7:25 pm by Vincent
An aerial view of the M3 near Clonee, Co Meath. Moving north towards Kells, heavy machinery, diggers and cranes continue to work on long stretches on what appear to be the basic outlines of junctions and interchanges. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Contentious M3 is 90% complete, says NRA
The Irish Times – Wednesday, September 16, 2009
THE CONTROVERSIAL M3 motorway in Co Meath, which has been the subject of several years of protests, is now almost 90 per cent complete, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has said. At almost 60km of main motorway and a further 40km of link roads and interchanges, the it is one of the longest motorways under construction in Europe. The M3 is not scheduled to open until July 2010. Work could still finish ahead of this scheduled date, but not before mid-spring next year, the NRA said. Beginning at Clonee, north of the Dublin-Meath border, it runs to Kells where it switches to a motorway-grade dual carriageway for the last 10km to the Cavan border. It will have two toll booths, charging €1.40 for cars. Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells are bypassed along the route.
Controversially, the route runs just over 2km from the Hill of Tara, and adjacent to the Lismullin national monument and the hill fort of Rath Lugh. Protesters have occupied these latter two sites, blocking the road’s construction at various times in recent years, most memorably in March last year when conservationist Lisa Feeney, known as “Squeak” shut herself inside a chamber at the bottom of a 33-foot tunnel at Rath Lugh for 60 hours. No protesters are currently blocking or picketing any part of the motorway, and Vincent Salafia of Tarawatch said that such action is unlikely to recur. “The frontline part of the campaign is pretty much over. There are people still protesting in the area, but not on the front line of the road. At this stage any protest on the road would be a largely symbolic gesture, but that doesn’t mean the campaign is over.”
Recent changes to the criminal trespass laws had made such protests more difficult, Mr Salafia said, but he said Tarawatch was continuing to campaign against the road and hoped it might still be moved, even after its construction. Moving the road would be a possibility particularly if the Hill of Tara received Unesco World Heritage designation, Mr Salafia said. Tarawatch was also continuing to bring complaints against the NRA to EU bodies in relation to the destruction of ancient archaeology and heritage. Mr Salafia has criticised the cost to the taxpayer of the motorway. He said this will amount to €727.4 million over the life of the toll contract with Eurolink, which ends in 2052. However, NRA spokesman Seán O’Neill said Mr Salafia’s claims were a distortion of the facts. The road would cost about €720 million if Eurolink had not been involved and the cost was borne entirely by the State. “In fact only €250 million is being paid up front; the rest of the cost is being borne by the contractor . . . Distorting the figures doesn’t benefit the public, what benefits the public is the construction of a new, safe, value for money motorway.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
09.14.09
Posted in News, Tolls, Transport at 7:31 pm by Vincent
Taxpayers face multi-billion euro motorway bill
Irish Independent – Saturday September 12 2009 – By Michael Brennan and Aine Kerr
TAXPAYERS are facing a multi-billion euro bill to fund the State’s new motorway network. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report showed that the tolled M3 Clonee to Kells motorway, which is due to open next year, will cost taxpayers €727.4m in total over the next 42 years. The upgrade of the M50 ring road in Dublin from a two-lane to three-lane motorway by the ICON consortium will cost €1bn up to 2042. But while the State is paying private contractors for building and maintaining the roads in annual instalments, drivers will also have to pay billions of euro in tolls to use the motorways.
The Comptroller’s report said these public private partnership (PPP) contracts were signed for periods ranging from 30 to 45 years. However, the National Roads Authority (NRA) will share in some of the toll revenue if traffic exceeds certain targets. It earned €500,000 in toll revenue from the Kilcock/Kinnegad section of the Dublin-Galway motorway last year. The Comptroller’s report said the NRA believed it would earn €1.7bn in tolls from the motorways built under PPP contracts. The NRA also estimates it will earn a further €1bn in tolls by 2020 from the West Link toll bridge on the M50. But the report detailed the costs to the State of its buyout of the West Link toll bridge, which is now barrier free.
Responsibility
It now has to pay €50m per year to National Toll Roads (NTR) from August 2008 to March 2020 and assume responsibility for VAT of the order of €140m. The overall cost will be €600m. NTR originally invested £6m in the West Link toll bridge in 1987 — about €14m in today’s money. While there was provision for the reduction of tolls to zero in the agreements, subject to compensation of NTR for lost revenue, there was no provision for outright termination. “The absence of a termination clause hampered the State in its negotiations,” the report said. Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley also found that the State was unlikely to require any further carbon credits to meet its carbon emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol by 2012. The drop in the level of economic activity has led to a similar drop in carbon dioxide emissions. Although the State is still contracted to buy 8.3 million Kyoto units, it will be able to carry forward any excess credits to the post-2012 period.
Permalink
08.29.09
Posted in Archaeology, Events, Historical Importance of Tara, News at 9:16 am by Vincent
The Irish Times reported on Friday, August 28 2009 that a 9,000 year old fishing trap was found in the Hill of Tara landscape, near Dunsany, during excavations by the National Roads Authority (NRA), along the path of the M3 motorway. The incredible find was reported in a story entitled, ‘Artefacts uncovered during roadworks give fresh perspective on early Irish life‘, which covered the NRA National Archaeology Seminar 2009, which took place in Dublin on Thursday, 27th August, entitled ‘Creative Minds: production, manufacturing and invention in ancient Ireland’. The Irish Times article stated:
“Ronan Swan of the NRA told of a fishing trap uncovered at Clowanstown on the route of the M3 near Dunsany. It was made of saplings and was probably 9,000 years old.”
Details of the fishing trap can be found in the Final Excavation Report for Clowanstown1, available in the archaeology section of the NRA web site. The trap and a lot of other Neolithic fishing materials, along with axes, jewelry and evidence of industrial and ritual activity and were located within an area containing five mounds or man-made monuments. The site sits beside a wetland which was previously a lake, and you can view the report with images on the NRA web site, the text of which is reprinted below, with some images.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
08.13.09
Posted in News, Tolls at 2:52 pm by Vincent
Taxpayer will have to foot bill for M3 toll shortfall
Irish Indpendent- Monday August 10 2009
By Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
TAXPAYERS will have to compensate the operators of the controversial M3 motorway if the number of vehicles using it falls below target. It is understood this is the first time such a guaranteed minimum toll income has been agreed.
There will be downward pressure on the numbers using the M3, which opens early next year, because drivers could face €11.20-a- day in tolls and there will also be a new rail service to Navan. The Dunboyne to Clonsilla leg of the rail link to Dublin opens next year, with the full line coming on stream in 2015. The ‘minimum traffic level’ clause for the M3 was included in the contract for the €650m motorway through Co Meath. It means the State will have to pay the toll operators, Eurolink, compensation if traffic flows (predicted at up to 60,000 drivers per day) fail to meet the agreed minimum target. But the National Roads Authority (NRA) has not revealed what this target is.
Labour transport spokesman Tommy Broughan warned the State might have to compensate Eurolink if the planned rail service persuaded drivers to abandon their cars. “It seems to be running counter to what would be generally accepted public transport policy. From every point of view, it seems mad,” he said. There is no such ‘minimum traffic’ agreement for another toll road operated by the same company — the Kinnegad-Kilcock section of the Dublin-Galway route. The National Roads Authority said the minimum traffic target was “competitive” and was based on annual rather than weekly or monthly traffic levels. But it said it was unable to reveal it because the expert in that field was on holidays. The re-opening of the Navan rail line is due to take place in two phases. The first is the 7.5km line from the planned M3 Interchange at Pace through to Clonsilla station, which is due to open next year.
Defended
It will include three new stations — Hansfield, Dunboyne and Pace. There will be 15-minute peak hour frequency commuter services into Docklands Station in Dublin city centre. Phase two of the project will extend the rail line to Navan. It is due to be completed by 2015.
The NRA defended its decision to include a minimum traffic guarantee. A spokesman said they needed to attract as many bidders as possible to the project. A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Noel Dempsey played down the risk of the State having to pay the toll operators compensation. “The NRA is confident that, based on traffic volumes, the minimum traffic level will be realised,” she said.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »