TaraWatch

Save Newgrange and TaraWatch, in co-operation with Matt Schwoebel of the 2048 Project at University of California, Berkeley, are launching an online petition drive on Friday, 21st August, to mark the beginning of Heritage Week in Ireland. We are asking people to complete the Irish Heritage Rights Survey, which will be sent to the Human Rights Committee in the United Nations, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. If you are concerned that Irish heritage is not getting adequately protected, particularly when it comes to majorly important sites like Bru na Boinne and the Hill of Tara, then please fill out the survey and pass it on to your friends and contacts. for more information please contact Vincent Salafia at info@tarawatch.org – Thank you.

PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 25 July 2010

‘Irish Heritage Rights Survey Launch to Coincide with Tara UNESCO Nomination’

TaraWatch and Save Newgrange, in conjunction with a University of California, Berkeley, human rights lawyer, Matt Schwoebel, are launching a heritage rights survey online tomorrow.

The launch will coincide with the opening of the 34th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which opens in Brazil today.

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The Managers Report on submissions made to the public consultation for the Draft Tara Skryne Landscape Conservation Area has been published.  A total of 321 submissions were received. The Plan is being vigorously opposed by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael county councillors, such as Mary Wallace, TD; Thomas Byrne, T.D; and Cllr Nick Killian. The TaraWatch submission was summarised by the Manager as follows:

This submission is made by Vincent Salafia, on behalf of NGO, Tara Watch. It is stated that TaraWatch support the Tara Skryne Landscape Conservation Area and requests that the planning authority to implement the Draft Plan in its current form. It is submitted that the proposed area accurately reflects the area of the cultural and natural landscape, directly associated with the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skryne. It is considered that the planning restrictions are absolutely necessary to achieve proper planning and sustainable development of the area. It is stated that Meath County has acted in bad faith by developing the M3 in its current route and is under a legal duty to mitigate the damage to the Tara Skryne Landscape by the M3 motorway. It is put forward that given the fact that the Hill of Tara was placed on  the World Monuments Fund – 100 Most Endangered Sites List in 2006 is compelling evidence that it deserves to be given protection as a LCA. It is submitted that the effects of the LCA are similar to those of a UNESCO designation and that if the council refuses to implement the proposed plan, then it is essentially opposing the UNESCO designation of the same area. A copy of the formal nomination form for UNESCO designation is contained in the submission.

PRESS RELEASE- TARAWATCH

04 June 2010 ‘

Colm Tóibín Joins Condemnation of M3 Motorway

Leading Irish writers, Colm Tóibín, yesterday condemned the construction of the M3 motorway, through the Hill of Tara landscape and archaeological complex. He has joined the long list of celebrities and artists, including Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Louis le Brocquy, Jim Fitzpatrick, Robert Ballagh, and the Chieftains, who have condemned the M3 motorway, along with arts group Aosdána. Speaking from Kerry where he is Chairman of the Listowel Writer’s Week Mr. Tóibín said:

“The desecration of the landscape around Tara is shameful, short-sighted and beyond belief. In a time when Ireland needs places which have a sacred aura and a special beauty more than ever, it is sad to see those who have misruled our country ganging up on our heritage.’

His words echo those of Seamus Heaney, who told BBC in March 2008: “If ever there was a place that deserved to be preserved in the name of the dead generations from pre-historic times up to historic times up to completely recently – it was Tara.” He called the M3 a “ruthless desecration”, and said: “I think it literally desecrates an area – I mean the word means to de-sacralise and for centuries the Tara landscape and the Tara sites have been regarded as part of the sacred ground.”

While the M3 motorway is opening today, the controversy will continue for years to come:

- The European Commission is currently taking a case against Ireland, in the European Court of Justice, for breach of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, due to the decision of Dick Roche to demolish the Lismullin national monument, in Tara.

- Tara is being nominated to UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site, this July. Professor George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at UCD has said it is likely that UNESCO will not be pleased that a motorway has been just opened in the middle of the very site they are being asked to protect.

- Tara was placed on the List of 100 Most Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) in 2006, and other international organisations, such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), Sacred Sites International, and the World Archaeological Congress (WAC).

- The Heritage Council is piloting the Tara Skryne Landscape Conservation Area, which covers a large area around Tara, and will place planning restrictions on both sides of the motorway. which are being challenged by local Fianna Fail councillors. Public consultation ends Wed 16 June.

- Finally, a human rights complaint is being prepared for the UN, which will detail the the litany of human rights abuses that have facilitated the construction of the M3.

Matt Schwoebel head of the 2048 Project at University of Berkeley law school, California, who was detained by Immigration officials at Dublin Airport and sent back to the US last November, said yesterday: “The human right to heritage sites of particular historical and religious significance is recognized in international law.

“These special places are inextricably connected to how people define themselves as communities and families. “The response by the government and police forces to the concerns of people raised during the protests are also of particular concern, and should be rectified accordingly.” The complaint will be presented to the UN and UNESCO this summer.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

“We have been completely vindicated in our campaign against the route of this road. The majority of Irish people, including most of our leading artists, as well as the EU and the major international archaeological bodies, have condemned it.

“The same reckless disregard for ethics, rights and regulation that brought down the economy, was employed to bulldoze this road through.

“The real kicker is yet to come, when traffic levels will show that the taxpayer will start paying millions of euros every year to the toll company, because of traffic fails to meet the traffic guarantee which was secretly written into the M3 contract by the NRA.

ENDS Contact: Vincent Salafia 085-192-7032 / Laura Grealish 087-972-8603

Seven wonders of Ireland up for UNESCO heritage coup

Irish Daily Mail – 15 April 2010

THEY are among our most popular tourist attractions, and they could be about to become even more iconic. Seven of our finest culture points have been nominated as potential UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Government’s initial list includes Georgian Dublin, Stone Age settlements on the Céide Fields in north-west Mayo, the Burren in Co. Clare, the monastic city of Clonmacnoise, western stone forts including Dun Aongh, usa in Aran, early medieval monastic sites in several locations, including Durrow, Glendalough, and Kells, and the royal sites such as Tara, Cashel, Dún Aillnne, Hill of Uisneach, and the Rathcroghan complex.

Environment Minister, John Gormley, who announced the shortlist, said: “Our heritage properties are our legacy, not just in Ireland but globally.” We already have two UNESCO sites – the Brú na Boinne – Newgrange complex, protected in 1993, and Skellig Michael off Co. Kerry, included in 1996. The North has the Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim, which made the list in 1986.  In the Government’s nomination, it states the royal sites, such as Tara in Co. Meath, are ‘unique expressions of Irish society’.

However, the announcement attracted controversy last night. Vincent Salafia, long-term campaigner against the motorway at Tara, said Mr Gormley had delayed the nomination until the motorway was built. “This is the first time the list has been revised. When Ireland signed the convention you are supposed to revise your list every ten years. This list hasn’t been revised since 1992 so Ireland is actually in breach of the convention.  “If it had been done back in 2002, chances are the motorway wouldn’t be up there in Tara now. Only in Ireland would they build a motorway through a site and then ask UNESCO to declare it a world heritage site.”

WRITE TO letters@dailymail.ie

Heritage site protection urged

Belfast Telegraph – Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Conservationists have hit out at Green Party leader John Gormley over seven shortlisted heritage sites, including the Hill of Tara

Campaigners from Save Newgrange and TaraWatch accused the Government of failing to protect Newgrange, which already has the coveted Unesco title and one of the latest nominees, Tara, the seat of the high kings of Ireland. The controversial M3 is passing just under a mile from the ancient hill, while other contentious plans have been drawn up for the N2 Slane bypass only 1,600ft from the Newgrange-Bru na Boinne complex.  Vincent Salafia said: “We support the nomination of the Hill of Tara as a world heritage site, but only on condition that measures are taken to mitigate the damage caused by the M3.  “The proposal for the N2 Slane Bypass is in direct contravention of Unesco’s instructions, to limit development ‘in and around’ the site. We are also going to demand that Ireland is forced to amend the National Monuments Act, since the current act does not give adequate protection for any world heritage site in Ireland.”

The Government’s “tentative” list includes Georgian Dublin, known as the Historic City of Dublin; extensive Stone Age settlements on the Ceide Fields in north-west Mayo; the Burren, Co Clare; the monastic city of Clonmacnoise; western stone forts including Dun Aonghusa in Aran; early medieval monastic sites Durrow, Glendalough, Inis Cealtra, Kells and Monasterboice and already nominated Clonmacnoise; and the royal sites such as Tara, Cashel, Dun Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach and the Rathcroghan complex.  Mr Gormley, who announced the shortlist, said: “Our heritage properties are our legacy, not just in Ireland but globally.” Ireland already has three Unesco sites – the Giant’s Causeway in Co Antrim, listed in 1986; the Bru na Boinne-Newgrange complex, protected in 1993; and Skellig Michael off Co Kerry, included in 1996. In the Government’s nomination it states the royal sites, such as Tara, are “unique expressions of Irish society”.

Save Newgrange and TaraWatch plan to make presentations to Unesco officials on the roadworks around the sites when the World Heritage Committee meets from July 25-August 3 in Brasilia.

Irish sites seek world heritage status

The Irish Times – 14 April 2010 – FRANK McDONALD Environment Editor

The Historic City of Dublin, Royal Tara, Georgian Dublin, the Céide Fields in northwest Mayo, Dún Aonghusa in Aran, the monastic site of Clonmacnoise and the Burren in Co Clare are included on a “tentative list” of nominees to Unesco for designation as world heritage sites.
Although Cashel, Killarney National Park and Clara Bog in Co Offaly were submitted in 1992, none have yet been designated. Ireland still has only three world heritage sites: Skellig Michael, off the Kerry coast; Brú na Bóinne in Co Meath, and the Giant’s Causeway in Co Antrim.

The latest list of nominees again includes Cashel, but this time as one of “the royal sites of Ireland” along with Dún Ailinne, Co Kildare; the Hill of Uisneach, Co Westmeath; the Rathcroghan complex in Co Roscommon and the Tara complex in Co Meath, which the M3 will pass by.  Though some had been affected by “erosion, agricultural and quarrying activity”, they still had “all the elements necessary to express the outstanding universal value of the royal sites” to give a “complete representation of the features and processes conveying their significance”.

Georgian Dublin has been rebranded as “the historic city of Dublin” in the submission to Unesco, made on behalf of Minister for the Environment John Gormley. It is in not only because of its architecture, but also for the city’s “extraordinary contribution to world literature”.  The submission also notes that Dublin’s Wide Streets Commissioners became “Europe’s first official town planning authority” in 1757, with a remit to make wide and convenient streets through congested parts of the city “by the rational application of scientific and aesthetic principles”.

The Burren is described as “an excellent example of a landscape which represents major stages of Earth’s history”, with fossil-rich karst limestone beds still “actively evolving”, 6,000 years of human settlement and a geological record that remains “highly visible and accessible”. The Céide Fields are included as “the outstanding example of human settlement, land-use and interaction with environment in Neolithic times . . . Nowhere else is there such extensive physical remains of a Neolithic farmed landscape surviving from this significant period in prehistory”.

Dún Aonghusa is included among five western Stone Forts, the others being Cahercommaun, Caherconree, Benagh and Staigue.  These represent “the apogee of the ring fort class of monument” that “provides a mirror of the organisation, economy and polity of Irish society” from AD 700 to AD 1000.  Much is also made of “the monastic city of Clonmacnoise and its cultural landscape” by the Shannon. It is described in the submission as “an unparalleled and outstanding example of a relict early medieval insular monastic city unobscured by modern building development”. Clonmacnoise is also included in a submission on early monastic sites along with Durrow, Glendalough, Inis Cealtra, Kells and Monasterboice. However, this is only the start of a process of getting them designated, with the likely tourism opportunities such status would bring, as Mr Gormley said. The full list is to be presented to Unesco’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia at the end of July.

Campaigners from Save Newgrange and TaraWatch today accused the Government of failing to protect Newgrange and Tara. The controversial M3 is passing close to Tara, while other contentious plans have been drawn up for the N2 Slane bypass less than a kilometre from the Newgrange-Brú na Boinne complex.  Vincent Salafia said the groups would protest at the Unesco meeting in Brazil this summer over Ireland’s treatment of heritage sites.  “We support the nomination of the Hill of Tara as a world heritage site, but only on condition that measures are taken to mitigate the damage caused by the M3,” he said. “We are also going to demand that Ireland is forced to amend the National Monuments Act, since the current act does not give adequate protection for any world heritage site in Ireland.”

WRITE letters to lettersed@irishtimes.com

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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

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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,

Vincent Salafia
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

Tara symposium – University College Dublin, School of Archaeology (23rd-26th October 2009)

Following the publication by Wordwell of reports on Seán P. Ó Ríordáin’s excavations at the Mound of the Hostages (Muiris O’Sullivan 2005) and Rath of the Synods (Eoin Grogan 2008), the UCD School of Archaeology, in association with the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, is hosting a symposium entitled Tara – From the Past to the Future. Featuring approximately forty papers by an international group of scholars, the symposium promises to be the most extensive review of the archaeology of Tara undertaken to date. It focuses on the data from the two excavation volumes but extends to a wider consideration of research undertaken at Tara over the past twenty years.

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