TaraWatch

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.”

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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.”

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Material in M3 also used in houses with subsidence

The Irish Times – Thursday, April 8, 2010

TIM O’BRIEN

MATERIAL USED in the construction of the M3 motorway in Co Meath was sourced from two quarries which also supplied material to houses later discovered to have problems with subsidence, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.  However, the National Roads Authority insisted there were no implications regarding the motorway.  More than 400 homes in north Co Dublin suffered from movement of foundations and up to 20,000 homes across the country have allegedly been damaged by pyrite, an infill material allegedly used in their construction.

While chief executive of the National Roads Authority (NRA) Fred Barry acknowledged infill material for the M3 had been sourced from two quarries from which alleged pyrite had also been obtained, he dismissed any suggestion of serious damage to the motorway. Mr Barry told Meath TD Shane McEntee (FG) there was no need for an independent audit of the M3 or the section of N3 from the West-Link toll to Clonee.  Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport yesterday, Mr Barry said infill material for support structures such as cement pillars and steel bars was rigorously monitored and could be traced. The NRA was happy no material from the two quarries identified had been used in connection with either steel or cement.  He said the material from the quarries could have been used on embankments. In this case, pyrite – if it had been present at all – was not boxed in by foundations as it would be in a house. There would be minimal impact if the material “shifted, heaved, or expanded” as it might in foundations.

Mr Barry said there was no recorded incidence of pyrite ever having definitively affected one of the national routes, although he did accept there was one recorded incidence of a motorway “heaving” by a few millimetres. It was not a serious problem he said, and had never been unquestionably attributed to pyrite.  But Mr McEntee said he did not accept there was no need for an independent audit of the presence of pyrite in the motorway and he questioned whether the contractor would be willing or able to rectify the matter if major issues developed in a number of years, as had happened with the houses. Tommy Broughan TD (Lab) also questioned the NRA on the presence of pyrite saying he had been first to estimate that there may be up to 20,000 affected homes which were not covered by their insurance policies. The cost of remedial action for the houses could be as much as €60 billion, he said.

Mr Barry responded that as the M3 was a public private partnership the matter would be an issue for the contractor who would be operating the motorway and collecting tolls for the next 45 years.  However he undertook to respond to the transport committee with the insurance provided by the contractor.  On motorway service areas, Fine Gael spokesman on transport Fergus O’Dowd asked Mr Barry to confirm he had been told by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey not to spend money on the service area programme.Mr Barry acknowledged the NRA had received a letter from the Minister containing an instruction not to spend money on the programme.

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See also:

RTE: Pyrite caused two Meath homes ‘to explode’
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0407/construction.html