Sunday Tribune,  15 August 2009

Opinion – By David Kenny

Tenner for the first person who guesses what ‘Carbon Wine’, ‘Brace In Now!’ and ‘Bare Cow Inn’ have in common. My travelling companions didn’t make the connection. One threatened to connect his fist with my gob if I didn’t shut up, though.  On Tuesday we headed to Tullamore for a lads’ night out with a friend who has swapped the Liffey for Offaly (he’s a ‘Liffo’). I spent the journey shouting out stupid anagrams of people’s names to irritate the other passengers. I can be really, really, really annoying when I’m bored.  Brian Cowen’s name is stuffed with good anagrams, like the ones above, but I discovered one that describes him perfectly. It’s ‘Baron Wince’. You know the way you wince at your bills these days? That’s down to Baron Wince – Ireland’s Lord of Pain. We headed to the Baron’s local, the Brewery Tap, because I wanted to ask him what he knows about bi-location – being in two places at once. Noel Dempsey got me wondering about this last week as he defended the latest news from Tara. The Baron wasn’t about, so my question had to wait. (We’ll return to it later.)

The news from Tara is that we will have to compensate the operators of the M3 if the number of cars using it falls below a target agreed by the state. So what’s that target? Don’t ask the National Roads Authority. It would only say last week that it was “competitive”. Don’t ask Dempsey either. Newstalk’s Eamon Keane asked him if the public will ever be told. Not if it’s commercially sensitive, he replied, adding “what we WILL know is if the target is NOT reached”. So there you have it. How many cars make the M3 viable? Answer: mind your own business. Even after all the crookedness Fianna Fáil has displayed towards Tara, this latest revelation stopped me in my tracks. What next? Are they planning to sell the rights to Tara’s name, like The Point did to 02? Will we see ‘Welcome to The Hill of Eurolink’ as we approach Tara? It wouldn’t surprise me.

The M3 scandal embodies all that is wrong with Irish politics: greed, wastefulness, ignorance and a total disregard for democracy. Nobody wanted it in Tara/Skryne bar Fianna Fáil, which was so eager to destroy the valley that it paid almost €69,000 an acre for it. So eager, that it bulldozed the national monument at Lismullen, sparking an expensive European Court case. If/when we lose, we could be ordered to do a new environmental impact study and go back to scratch on the site. Unesco may also order the road to be moved if it deems Tara a World Heritage Site. Environment minister John Gormley is afraid of this so he delayed presenting it for consideration. The obvious thing to do now is halt the M3 pending Unesco and the court’s decisions. ‘Green’ Gormley, however, is hell-bent on completing a motorway that is destroying a heritage site, may have to be moved and may not prove viable.

A shortfall is highly likely. Last April it was predicted that almost 23,000 vehicles would use the M3 daily when it opens next July. Those numbers need to be readjusted because of the recession. Last month, Meath experienced the largest increase in people signing on – an extra 17,000 people, or 4%. That means a lot of cars off the road until the gloom recedes. On top of that, the remaining workforce won’t want to pay €11.20-a-day in tolls when the rail service to Navan opens. Incidentally, neither Dempsey nor Gormley will have to pay the tolls – ministerial cars are exempt. The pair’s record with sums is appalling: last year Dempsey spent €70,000 on a new logo for Transport 21. The existing one had been developed in-house… for free. At around the same time, Gormley spent €15m on a climate change advertising campaign and only €5m on the Warmer Homes Scheme.

Two men, two things in common: the M3 and financial incompetence.

Remember I wanted to ask Brian Cowen about bi-location? The M3 bail-out has made it theoretically possible for me to be in two places at once – driving through Meath while at home in Dublin. Here’s my question: why should I pay a toll on a road I don’t want, will never use, in a county I don’t live in, to a foreign consortium – for the next 45 years?  Fianna Fáil has secretly shackled us to a road that’s in the wrong place. It agreed to underwrite a bad development that was in trouble from the start. How many other similar deals has it done? After this, how can we trust its judgment on Nama? Last week, the Greens made noises about holding a convention on Nama. Under party rules, Gormley and Co can be ordered to vote it down, effectively ending the coalition. Here’s another question about location: where were the Greens’ grass roots when the rest of us were discussing Nama? Why have they suddenly discovered their voices when the Dáil is on holidays? Are they serious or just posing?

Considering the Greens’ hypocrisy to date, another two-word anagram comes to mind. It’s of ‘T-a-r-a’ and is normally preceded by “I smell…”  It’s also always associated with sinking ships, Mr Gormley.

PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 17 July 2009

‘National Monuments Bill and Tara Landscape Conservation Area Contradict EU Legal Action’

The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, today announced a series of measures, including a future National Monuments Bill, a future UNESCO nomination for the Hill of Tara, and a new Landscape Conservation Area for Tara-Skryne. However, these proposed measures directly contradict the Minister’s actions over the last two years in the European Court of Justice, where he is defending the decision by the former Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche‘s decision to demolish the Lismullin National Monument, near Tara, in 2007.

The Commission initiated a legal action against Ireland after Minister Gormley refused the Commission’s order to halt the demolition of Lismullin. The Commission took legal action, on the basis that the current National Monuments Act (2004), is in breach of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive. Arguments were submitted by the Commission on 15 July, and Ireland has until October to respond.  The National Monuments Bill announced today, was promised to be delivered last summer. The UNESCO nomination of Tara announced today, was supposed to have been completed already.  Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

“Today’s announcements are completely disingenuous. The reality is that the Minister is actively defending the current Act and the M3 development in the ECJ.  Huge amounts of taxpapers’ money is being spent defending the National Monuments Act case in Europe, while even more money is being spent changing the same law here. The Minister has spent two years actively prevented the European Commission and UNESCO from protecting the Tara Skryne Landscape,  which he now claims to be protecting. What kind of Landscape Conservation Area has a motorway being built in the middle of it?”

ENDS

Contact – Vincent Salafia 087-132-3365 / info@tarawatch.org

Read Minister’s Statement below:

Gormley Outlines Progress on the Review of Archaeological Policy and Practice & the proposed National Monuments Bill 2009

Press release – Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government 17/07/09

Mr John Gormley TD Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government today (17 July 09) outlined progress on the Review of Archaeological Policy and Practice & the proposed
National Monuments Bill 2009.

“One of my first tasks on assuming office in 2007 was to attempt to deal with the legacy of previous decisions in relation to the M3 and the possible impacts on the Hill of Tara and the surrounding landscapes. I was of the opinion then and I am still of the same opinion that legislation needed to be bolstered to offer further protection to our national monuments and associated landscapes nationwide,” said Minister Gormley.

“In September 2007 I initiated a major review of archaeological policy and practice in Ireland. The aim of the review was to make policy and practice in protecting Ireland’s archaeological heritage the best there could be and to draw from the experience and advice of experts both at home and abroad to achieve this,” added the Minister.

In order to ensure that every effort was made to properly define the nature and scope of the Review and to advise the Minister on the prioritisation of issues coming out of a consultation process, an Expert Advisory Committee was established to advise on how to respond to the issues that emerged. At the Minister’s request the Expert Advisory Committee concentrated, initially, on legislative provisions to up-date and replace the National Monuments Acts 1930, 1954, 1987, 1994 & 2004.

On the 24th February this year the Minister approved the preparation of drafts heads of a bill to replace the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 2004, and related enactments, based on the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Committee on the Review of Archaeological Policy & Practice.

The main objectives of the Bill on publication may include the provision of:
· A single piece of consolidated and modernised legislation to replace the existing National Monuments Acts dating from 1930 to 2004.
· A single Register of Monuments to replace the existing statutory Record of Monuments and Places and the statutory Register of Historic Monuments, the non-statutory Sites and Monuments Record, the non-statutory lists of national monuments subject to preservation order or temporary preservation order and the non-statutory lists of national monuments in the ownership or guardianship of the Minister or local authorities.
· A new system for the identification, registration and conservation of historic landscapes.
· Improved recognition of and protection for archaeology under planning legislation.
· A statutory mechanism for dealing with all new discoveries of archaeological monuments and sites; current legislation only deals with discoveries made on approved road schemes.
· A single consistent system for regulating archaeological works in relation to all types of development both in the public and private sector; at present differing regimes apply to approved road schemes and other public infrastructure provision and private sector development.
· A more efficient licensing system for archaeological excavations, effectively providing for a single licence for all archaeological works relating to a particular scheme or project, rather than a multiplicity of licences which can be required at present.
· An appeals system where an application for a licence is refused.

The Bill may also provide for ratification of certain International Conventions including:
· The UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Objects,
· The Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit, Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and
· The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.

While the aim of the Bill is to provide strong protection for Heritage it will also modernise and stream line certain procedures including procedures for licensing of works at Registered Monuments. Work is underway in relation to the preparation of the heads of the bill.

Tara-Skryne Landscape Conservation Area

“I am also pleased to announce details in relation to a proposed new landscape management project which has been initiated to establish a Landscape Conservation Area in the Tara-Skryne area.  Much has been written about this coveted area and the detail announced today will be the start of the process to protect this historic landscape,” added Minister Gormley. “The new landscape conservation zone for Tara Skryne will protect the area from development damage. I am also ensuring that Tara will be on the updated tentative list of sites for future nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status when it is finalised later this year.”

Pilot Project:

The initiative is a partnership project between Meath County Council, the Heritage Council, and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, working with the local community and all stakeholders in a collaborative and participative manner.  The proposal to designate a Landscape Conservation Area for Tara-Skryne can be considered as part of the emerging National Landscape Strategy (NLS). The experience gained and the issues arising will provide a central input into the development of the necessary framework for the NLS.

Key Points

-The Tara-Skryne Pilot will cover all aspects of landscape, including archaeological and historic landscapes, take account of the relationships between these different landscapes, and their fit within the overall planning system.

- Any designation will follow on from an extensive consultation and involvement with all stakeholders and local community to determine their wishes for the landscape.
-Immediate funding of €50,000 has been made available by the Department and the Heritage Council to help get the Pilot underway.
-A Steering Group whose membership is drawn from Meath County Council, the Heritage Council and the Department has been established to oversee the Pilot. The Group has held three meetings to date.

The project will progress objectives and policies contained in the Meath County Development Plan 2007-2013 which seek to designate a Landscape Conservation Area for the Tara-Skryne Area.

The Minister also launched Bru na Boinne (Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne)
Research Framework

The framework summarises the current state of knowledge of more than 6,000 years of activity at Bru na Boinne, and highlights gaps in knowledge, presented as a series of 38 research questions. Questions cover a broad range of issues, such as –
· who were the first people to occupy the landscape?
· how were people disposing of their dead in early pre-history?
· what was the nature of the Iron Age, and in turn the Viking presence?
· what is the sequence for construction of the passage tombs?
· how was the land used during medieval and post-medieval periods?
· what is the extent of the aerial photographic resource for Bru na Boinne?
· does the built heritage of the area have any unique characteristics?
· how do different farming techniques impact on different types of monuments and cultural heritage?
· how can residential development be better managed?
· how can existing and future data be better integrated, managed and archived?

ENDS

Media queries:
Press and Information Office
Tel: (01) 888 2638  (direct)
(01) 888 2000
E-Mail: press-office@environ.ie
Web site: www.environ.ie

]]> http://www.tarawatch.org/?feed=rss2&p=1244 0 http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=1222 http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=1222#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:06:43 +0000 Vincent http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=1222

PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 9 July 2009

Responses to Parliamentary Questions by Ministers for Environment, Transport and Finance “Totally Unacceptable”

Responses to a series of 30 Parliamentary Questions (PQs), submitted to Ministers for the Environment, Transport and Finance, by Labour and Sinn Fein, have been made.  The PQs, relating to the Hill of Tara and the M3 motorway, were delivered to last week by a TaraWatch delegation to the Oireachtas. The questions related to:

-    The delay by the Minister for the Environment in nominating the Hill of Tara as a World Heritage Site

-    The delay by the Minister for the Environment in amending the National Monuments Act

-    The possible implications for the Ministers for Transport of case being brought against Ireland in the European Court of Justice over the demolition of the Lismullin national monument at Tara

-    The reasons why the Minister for Finance has not subjected the National Development Plan to Strategic Environmental Assessment, as recommended by the European Commission.

TaraWatch spokesperson, Vincent Salafia, said the group found the responses by the Ministers as “completely unacceptable”. “The answers reveal a startling contempt for Irish heritage, as well as for European and UN law, and show the Government has been systematically preventing the European Commission and UNESCO from protecting Tara and other important Irish cultural sites.”

The Minister for the Environment revealed that he began the process of nominating the Hill of Tara as a UENSCO site in December 2007. Yet, Tara will not now be nominated until July 2010, two and a half years later. It seems Minister Gormley has been delaying the UNESCO nomination on purpose, in order to facilitate the completion of the M3 first. Minister Gormley’s inaction has effectively prevented UNESCO from seeking a solution to the Tara problem, and we believe that is a violation of his legal duties to the people of Ireland, and to the global community.

Minister Gormley’s response to another PQ also revealed that the amendment of the National Monuments Act, which Gormley had promised to deliver last summer, will be over a year late. Mr Salafia said:  “Minister Gormley could also have drafted legislation to protect Tara, as part of the new National Monuments Act, but he has also delayed that process by over a year.”

TaraWatch also disputes the facts given by Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, in his response. The Minister claims that the Navan to Dublin railway preferred route is 7km to the west of Tara.  Mr Salafia said: “The railway route is less than 2km away from Tara, and it passes through the Tara complex, and the proposed World Heritage Site.”

Finally, TaraWatch does not accept the answer given by Minister for Finance that the NDP and Transport 21 does not need to be subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment. Mr Salafia said:  The European Commission has stated that the NDP should be subject to SEA, and we agree.  SEA would mean proper cost-benefit analysis and independent environmental testing, as well as public participation in decision-making in major infrastructure plans, which has never been performed.  If the NDP was put through SEA we wouldn’t have a toll road, a railway and power lines set to take three different routes through a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Question Nos. 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 427, 428, and 430

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil:

To the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he did not submit the Hill of Tara and the entire revised Ireland’s Tentative List of UNESCO sites to UNESCO as promised, for the July 2009 thirty third Session of the World Heritage Committee in Seville, Spain.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount spent in hiring consultants and reviewing Ireland’s list of world heritage sites in the past two years.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his plans in relation to revising Ireland’s Tentative List of UNESCO Sites.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way he or his advisors made a determination of the ability of Tara to become a UNESCO site, before the advisors had visited the site or reviewed the M3.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that an organisation (details supplied) nominated the Hill of Tara as a world heritage site, but only on condition that the M3 was rerouted, in view of the fact that it passes through the middle of the proposed world heritage site.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether UNESCO will accept the Hill of Tara as a UNESCO site with the M3 passing through it.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will define the area of the proposed Tara world heritage site.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the cost involved if UNESCO demands that Ireland move the M3 motorway, once Tara is declared a world heritage site.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has included a consortium (details supplied), the M3 public private partners, in the consultation process for making Tara a world heritage site; and if so, their involvement in relation to same.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has included Iarnród Éireann in the consultation process, in view of the fact that the preferred route for Navan-Dublin railway was announced in May 2009 and will be passing through the proposed Tara world heritage site.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has included Eirgrid in the consultation process, in view of the fact that the Department of Transport has proposed that the north south electrical connector be placed underground along the M3 or the N3, thereby passing through the proposed Tara world heritage site.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he was scheduled to present a revised tentative list to UNESCO at the Seville World Heritage Committee Meeting; if not, when it is required to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Joanna Tuffy.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps taken to have Tara considered a world heritage site; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the publishing of the list of potential sites for world heritage site nomination that was to have been published in Spring 2009; his views on the inclusion of Tara in this list; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Joanna Tuffy.

For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.
Ref Nos:   28622/09, 28623/09, 28624/09, 28625/09, 28626/09, 28627/09, 28628/09, 28629/09, 28630/09, 28631/09, 28632/09, 28693/09, 28694/09, and 28696/09

REPLY

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Gormley):
I propose to take Questions Nos. 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 427, 428 and 430 together.

I am aware of some misleading information in the media recently concerning the process of nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status and am pleased to have the opportunity to put the facts on record.

Ireland’s Tentative List of potential sites for nomination for inscription on the World Heritage List was last updated in 1992, and does not include the Hill of Tara.  Last year I directed my Department to review the 1992 list, and requested that the Tara complex, amongst other sites, be considered for inclusion on a revised list.  In December 2007 & April 2008

I arranged for Dr Jukka Jokileht to, a world heritage UNESCO expert, to visit a number of these sites to advise on their suitability for inclusion.

In October 2008 I established an Expert Advisory Group to carry out the review of the Tentative List; consultants have not been engaged by my Department on the review process. Total expenditure by my Department to date on the Tentative List Review is approximately €42,700.

The Expert Advisory Group (EAG) has completed extensive analysis of the sites on the current Tentative List.  Members of the public and interested groups were also invited to submit potential properties for inclusion on the new Tentative List. 31 such proposals were received and these were considered and assessed by the EAG.

On the basis of its own analysis, and consideration and assessment of the proposals received from the public and interested groups, the EAG has now finalised a draft new Tentative List which contains the details of the properties which the EAG considers are of outstanding universal value, meet the UNESCO World Heritage inscription criteria in terms of integrity and authenticity and have the best potential for future inscription on the World Heritage List. I expect to be in a position to publish this draft tentative list for public consultation before the end of the month, and I understand that the Hill of Tara is included in this list.

While it was initially envisaged that Ireland’s new Tentative List would be submitted to UNESCO in advance of the June 2009 session of the World Heritage Committee, this has not been possible mainly because the review process and World Heritage Committee requirements for the tentative list process have been more complex than at first envisaged.  It was also considered better to take more time in preparing a new Tentative List in keeping with UNESCO guidelines and best international practice. I will be forwarding the new Tentative List to UNESCO before the end of this year and it will then be presented at the 34th Session of the World Heritage Committee in 2010.

I am not currently in a position to process a nomination for the Hill of Tara for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as the property was not included on the 1992 Tentative List. Only sites that have been on the State Party’s Tentative List for a period of at least one year may be nominated for consideration by the World Heritage Committee for inscription on the World Heritage List.  In order to adhere to the very stringent UNESCO requirements concerning management of sites and other matters, in practice it usually takes a number of years following inclusion on a Tentative List before a site is considered suitable for inscription.

Questions Nos. 416, 417, 418, 419, 421 and 426

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil:
To the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he did not revoke archaeological licenses and halt excavations on the M3, in the Lismullin/Tara area, when the European Commission put him on notice that an environmental impact assessment was required.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount spent on outside legal counsel to defend the action in relation to the requirement for an environmental impact assessment for the M3 project in the European Court of Justice.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the consequences for capital infrastructure projects, already under way, if the European Court of Justice finds against Ireland in relation to environmental impact assessments.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the consequences for the National Monuments Act 1930, and archaeological codes of practice, if the European Court of Justice finds against Ireland.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason, in view of the legal action initiated by the European Commission, and his admission that there are gaps in the way archaeological finds are dealt with in certain circumstances, he is defending the environmental impact assessment case being taken against Ireland by the European Commission, rather than amending the Act to adopt the recommendations of the Commission.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to comply with the recommendations of the European Commission in respect of the need for environmental impact assessments for works that affect national monuments; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Joanna Tuffy.

For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref Nos:   28633/09, 28634/09, 28636/09, 28637/09, 28639/09 and 28692/09.

REPLY

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Gormley):

I propose to take Questions Nos.  416, 417, 418, 419, 421 and 426 together.

I understand that the questions refer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) case C50/09, initiated by the European Commission, concerning Ireland’s alleged failure to properly transpose and implement certain provisions of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

The Reasoned Opinion from the European Commission relates only to the excavations at the national monument at Lismullin and not to any other archaeological works along the route of the M3 motorway.

In the case of Lismullin, the vulnerability of the remaining fragile archaeological features required urgent steps to be taken, and although the question of an EIA did not arise, it would not have been practicable in any event.   Despite protective covering, heavy rainfall since its discovery had already significantly impacted on the site.  Urgent measures were needed to ensure that no further degradation occurred.

The option of preservation in situ had been carefully considered by the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.  The conclusion reached was that, because of the fragility of the features and the location of the site in a natural hollow, preservation in situ could not guarantee the actual preservation of the monument.

This conclusion was endorsed by the Expert Advisory Committee I appointed, on the advice of the Director of the National Museum, to advise on the conduct of the archaeological works.  The only viable archaeological option, therefore, was preservation by record, i.e. the full archaeological excavation and recording of the exposed features.

Ireland lodged a comprehensive defence in this case on 27 April 2009. The European Commission is required to lodge its response with the Court not later than 15 July 2009.

I am not prepared to speculate on the outcome or possible consequences of this case.

The engagement and remuneration of legal counsel to advise in this case is a matter for the Office of the Attorney General.

Question Nos. 420, 422 and 425

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil:
To the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he did not present a new National Monuments Act as promised in the middle of 2008.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount spent conducting a consultation for a revision of the National Monuments Act 1930, and archaeological policy.

-        Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the promised National Monuments Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Joanna Tuffy.

For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref Nos:   28638/09, 28640/09 and 28691/09

REPLY

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Gormley):

I propose to take Question Nos.  420, 422 and 425 together.

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.

The Expert Committee met five times during 2008 and the related costs, along with the costs of information seminars held for other interested parties, amounted to €30,871.38.

Question No.         423

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil:
To the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he has agreed a code of practice with Eirgrid when it is based on the National Monuments Act 1930.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref No:   28642/09

REPLY

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Gormley):

Codes of Practice, such as that recently agreed between my Department and EirGrid, provide a framework to enable infrastructure providers to progress their work programmes, while carrying out appropriate archaeological mitigation in accordance with an agreed set of principles and actions. They serve as operational guidance to ensure best archaeological practice in accordance with legal and other requirements and may be revised, as necessary, to reflect legislative change or other relevant developments.

Question No.         429

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil:
To the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps taken to protect Lismullen, County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

- Joanna Tuffy.

For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref No:   28695/09

REPLY

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Gormley):

The national monument at Lismullin has been included in the Register of Historic Monuments established under Section 5 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987.  That portion of the monument encompassed by the M3 Motorway Scheme has been archaeologically excavated and recorded to achieve preservation by record.   Notice must be given to my Department no less than two months prior to the carrying out of any works to a registered historic monument.  In addition, no detection device may be used at, or in the vicinity of, such a monument without a licence from my Department.

DÁIL QUESTION
NO   171 & 172

To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the European Commission has sent a reasoned opinion to the Government to the effect that the National Development Plan 2007 to 2013, containing Transport 21, is in breach of EU law, due to the fact that is has not been subject to strategic environmental assessment under the SEA Directive; and his response to the Commission.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
*    For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.
Ref No: 28643/09

To ask the Minister for Finance the reason he continues to perform strategic environmental assessments on the National Development Plan and Transport 21.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

*    For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.
Ref No: 28644/09

REPLY

Minister for Finance ( Mr Lenihan) :        I propose to take questions number 171 and 172 together.

To my knowledge, no reasoned opinion on this issue has been received from the European Commission by Ireland.

During the preparation of the NDP, the question of undertaking a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) was considered by the Government.  The outcome of this consideration, which included taking legal advice, was that an SEA was not required.

In 2007, the European commission sent a Letter of Formal Notice seeking information on the NDP and its status as it was their opinion that the NDP appeared to be a plan or programme subject to the SEA Directive.        A reply was sent to the Commission setting out our position that the NDP is not subject to the aforementioned Directive.

The Commission sent a revised Letter of Formal Notice in 2008.  Ireland’s response confirmed our considered opinion that the NDP is not subject to the SEA Directive.

Issues relating to Transport 21 are a matter, in the first instance, for the Minister for Transport.

Dáil Question
No:  274

*To ask the Minister for Transport his views on the consequences, if UNESCO tells the Government to move the M3, the Dublin-Navan railway and the electrical connector; and if he has received advice on whether his proposal to run power lines along the M3 requires a new EIA.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

*    For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref No:   28648/09     Proof:   258

Answered by the Minister for Transport
(Noel Dempsey TD)

REPLY

The nomination of sites for consideration as UNESCO World Heritage sites is a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.  The position on this matter is as set out in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government’s response today to a Question from the Deputy on this subject.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The construction, improvement and maintenance of individual national roads projects, including the M3, is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under section 17 of the Roads Act, 1993, as amended by the Roads Act 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Work on the M3 motorway is well underway and is expected to be complete in 2010.

With regard to the proposed Dublin to Navan railway line, the preferred route for the line follows the existing disused railway track bed between Clonsilla (junction with the Maynooth line) and Navan. This route is approximately 7km to the west of Tara. This project will be the subject of an application to An Bord Pleanála for a railway order, and all relevant environmental and other issues will be addressed in its consideration of that application.

Issues relating to the north south electrical connector are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Dáil Question
No:  275

*To ask the Minister for Transport the reason, regarding the current case being brought by the European Commission against Ireland, in the European Court of Justice, for failure to implement the EIA Directive, he did not order the National Roads Authority to halt works on the M3, in the Tara area, when the European Commission put the Government on notice that an EIA was required; the amount spent on outside legal counsel to defend this action in the ECJ; the consequences for the M3 motorway if the ECJ finds against Ireland; the consequences for the National Monuments Act 1930 and the NRA codes of practice, if the ECJ finds against Ireland; the consequences for transport projects, already underway, if the ECJ finds against Ireland; the person who bears the costs if the EC orders a new EIA on the M3.

- Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

*    For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 8th July, 2009.

Ref No:   28649/09     Proof:   259

Answered by the Minister for Transport
(Noel Dempsey TD)

REPLY

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The construction, improvement and maintenance of individual national roads projects, including the M3, is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under section 17 of the Roads Act, 1993, as amended by the Roads Act 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

The allocation of funding to individual national road projects, including the M3, is a matter for the NRA under section 19 of the Roads Act, 1993, as amended by the Roads Act 2007.

Ireland has been referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the EU Commission concerning Ireland’s alleged failure to properly transpose and implement certain provisions of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

This is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Ireland is strongly contesting the Commission’s assertions and lodged a comprehensive defence in this case on 27 April 2009. The legal costs of contesting this case are a matter for the Office of the Attorney General.

The Court’s decision is not expected for some time. It is not expected to have any implications for the M3 motorway, work on which is well underway and is expected to be complete in 2010.

I am not prepared to speculate on the impacts (if any) of the Court’s judgement until its detailed decision has been published and carefully considered by the Irish authorities.

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

Contact: Vincent Salafia

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.

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.

PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH – 22 June 2009

‘Launch of GORMLEY MUST GO! Campaign Tomorrow at Custom House’

TaraWatch will launch its GORMLEY MUST GO! campaign at a rally at Custom House, tomorrow at 12.00 noon. It will be first in a series of demonstrations, highlighting the Minister’s failings. The aim of the campaign is to call on Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to resign over his failure to protect the Hill of Tara, and other internationally important heritage sites around Ireland.

Minister Gormley broke his promise to present UNESCO with a revised list of Ireland’s nominations for World Heritage Site, in Seville, tomorrow. The list was to include Tara, the Burren, Clonmacnoise, Kells, the Cliffs of Moher and many other important Irish sites.  Despite employing 15 consultants, and conducting an expensive and lengthy public consultation process, he will not  present the nominations to UNESCO as planned.

Minister Gormley has been spending vest amounts of taxpayers money hiring outside legal counsel to defend a lawsuit from the European Commission, over the demolition of the Lismullin national monument. The case is being heard this week before the European Court of Justice, and could result in the M3 being re-routed, after millions have been spent on construction.

The Green Party had campaigned to protect the Hill of Tara from the M3, and a lot of people voted for Gormley in the belief he would take action as Minister. However, having used Tara and other issues to get elected, Gormley promised silence and inaction in order to become Minister. Since then, he has failed in his constitutional duty to protect the environment and heritage.

Vincent Salafia said:

“Minister Gormley has done the exact opposite of what a Minister for the Environment is supposed to do.

“Not only that, but he is spending vast amounts of money trying to prevent the EU and UNESCO from doing his job for him, and has exposed the Irish taxpayer to huge expense by fighting the European Commission.

“Minister Gormley must resign, as he holds only 2% of popularity in the electorate, and has failed miserably in his job.

ENDS

Register for this event on Facebook

CITY OF CHICAGO RESOLUTION

SAVE TARA VALLEY

28 March 2008

A resolution of the Mayor of Chicago and the City Council of Chicago, Illinois USA, beseeching the Government of Ireland, and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, to reconsider and reverse past decisions and halt the destruction of Ireland’s most sacred and ancient monuments at t­­he Valley of Tara by construction of M3 motorway; in favor of existing alternate routes that will preserve for posterity the Tara Valley, a landscape of immeasurable cultural and historical importance revered by millions throughout the world today and by countless generations of Irish people both in Chicago and around the world.

Whereas, Tara is over 5000 years old; older than Newgrange; older than Stonehenge; and older than Egypt’s Pyramids; and contains some of the oldest surviving buildings on earth, and was the seat of the Irish High Kings where 142 kings once reigned,

Whereas, the irreversible destruction of 44 National Monuments along the proposed M3 motorway has been compared to the destruction of the 1000 year old giant Buddha’s at Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban,

Whereas, Ireland must, by order of the EU, reduce its CO2 emissions by one-fifth and ensure that 16% of all energy comes from renewable resources by 2020,

Whereas, the EU introduced new Legislation for the Protection of the Archaeological record acknowledging that archaeological heritage is a non-renewable resource that must be conserved for future generations, which the Government of Ireland ratified in 1997,

Whereas, the EU Commission has called on the Irish Government to halt work on M3 motorway over concern about the impact on archaeological sites along the route of the M3, and has warned the Government that Ireland is in serious breach of EU law after recent discoveries along the route of the M3,

Whereas, the Archaeological Institute of America listed the 2,000 year-old Lismullen National Monument, discovered in the path of the M3 motorway, as one of the 10 most important archaeological discoveries of 2007,

Whereas, in 2007 Tara was named one of the world’s 100 most endangered heritage sites, by the New York-based World Monument Fund, and has been submitted to be named a UNESCO World Heritage site,

Whereas, 350 archaeologists, professors and academics world wide, submitted a letter of petition to the European Union, voicing their concerns about the historical significance of Tara, with a plea to halt the M3, and instead upgrade the N3 and rebuild the existing rail line. These professional opinions are part of the case before EU Commission for breach of EU Environmental law,

Whereas, Ireland’s National Monuments Act (1930-1994) historically protected the archaeological sites in Ireland, but in 2004, was rewritten to permit the destruction of any monument the Minister of Environment deemed expedient, thereby putting the fate of Ireland’s Heritage into the hands of a few Ministers,

Whereas, a civil lawsuit in the Ireland’s High Court, is challenging the M3 motorway, being built over historic sites. Plaintiff is seeking an injunction and a declaration that the National Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law,

Whereas, The most recent Irish Post Poll of Thursday, February 14, 2008, resulted in 89.93% being apposed to the building of the M3 through the Tara Valley,

Whereas, The M3 route through the Tara Valley, has been proven to be the most destructive and environmentally unfriendly, as well as the costliest of the two options, and that the M3 needlessly destroys over 44 National Monuments,

Whereas, the alternative to the M3, a mass transit scheme to upgrade the existing N3 motorway by adding a single reversible lane, combined with the refurbishing of the existing rail line for commuter transportation, would accomplish the same ends,

Whereas, MINISTER for Transport declared that he was “100 per cent” behind reopening the Navan-Dublin rail line, which would eliminate the need for the Northern section of the M3, which is the contentious section through the Tara valley,

Whereas, the heritage of Ireland belongs not only to Ireland, and the world in general, but to the Irish Diaspora all over the world, who outnumber the population of Ireland by a factor of 20, and inasmuch as Chicago is home to a large population of Irish decent, who wish to see the sacred lands of Tara Valley kept out of danger,

Whereas, Seamus Heaney, Ireland’s Nobel Poet Laureate stated that “the ancient Hill of Tara was safer under British rule than the present Irish government, describing the construction of a toll road near the site as a betrayal of ‘Ireland’s dead generations”.

Whereas, George Eogan (Ph.D., Trinity College, Dublin) is a leading expert in the archaeology of Ireland, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, University College, Dublin, was asked what he thought of the M3 TOLL ROAD, he replied “Well I can only use one word, I am horrified… and, it is too terrible for words… part of it has now been completely and absolutely destroyed… what is happening here is one of the greatest shameful acts of cultural vandalism that took place in any part of Europe.”

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago recognize the irreversibility of the destruction of the ancient monuments of the Tara Valley, and the necessity to preserve and protect the natural and man made treasures of ancient civilizations for the benefit of all of mankind, and,

Further Resolved, the effects of global warming and the need to plan for a future with less dependency on oil products for transportation needs, the City of Chicago being an example of the viability of rail and bus lines for mass transportation, and,

Further Resolved, that this Assembly cherishes historical heritage; expresses its opposition to the proposed route of the M3 Motorway in the Boyne Valley, which will despoil the historic site of Tara and other national monuments in this area; and calls on the Irish Government to revisit the available alternatives offered by the N3 roadway, as a 3 lane reverse-peak-traffic flow system in coordination with the restoration of the Dublin-Navan rail link for commuters, which will preserve for posterity the monuments of Ireland’s oldest civilization and some of the oldest buildings on earth, and thus win acceptance among all interested parties. We also urge that the National Monuments Act (1930 1994) be restored to its original intention, that is, the protection under law of Ireland’s Heritage and National Monuments for all of mankind.

Submitted this _____28_____Day of __March_________, 2008

Sponsored By___________________________________________

32^nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack

Action brought on 14 September 2007 – Commission of the European Communities v Ireland

(Case C-427/07)

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: D. Recchia and D. Lawunmi, Agents)

Defendant: Ireland

The applicant claims that the Court should:

declare that by failing to adopt, in conformity with Article 2(1) and Article 4 paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) of Council Directive 85/337/EEC1 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC, all measures to ensure that, before consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment in the road construction category covered by Class 10(e) of Annex II to Directive 85/337/EEC are made subject to a requirement for development consent and to an assessment with regard to their effects in accordance with Articles 5 to 10 of the Directive, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Council Directive 85/337/EEC

declare that by failing to adopt the laws, regulations or administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 3(1), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) and 4(1), (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of Directive 2003/35/EC2 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directive 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC or, in any event, by failing to adequately notify such provisions to the Commission, Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under article 6 of that Directive.

order Ireland to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Transposition of directive 85/337/EEC

The Commission considers that Ireland has failed to fully transpose directive 85/337/EEC because it fails to make provision for measures to achieve the results of articles 2(1) and 4 in respect of private road projects. The Commission considers that private road projects (proposed by private developers) fall within the scope of directive 85/337/EEC. Moreover, there is no basis for a presumption that such projects will not have significant effects upon the environment. The failure to include road projects proposed by private developers amounts to a breach of Ireland’s obligations under the aforementioned articles of the directive.

Transposition of directive 2003/35/EC

The Commission contends that there has been a failure on the part of Ireland, in accordance with article 6 of directive 2003/35/EC, to adopt and inform the Commission of all the national measures necessary to comply with articles 3 and 4 of the directive. More specifically, article 3, paras. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the directive set out specific amendments to several articles of directive 85/337/EEC. Ireland does not dispute that transposition needs to be effected by changes to both Irish planning legislation and legislation governing other consent systems. Ireland did not communicate any amendments to its planning legislation within the time-frame set by the additional reasoned opinion, and, in any case it has not yet communicated legislation governing all other consent systems. Articles 3(7) and 4(4) of the directive require not only systems of review of decision-making, but systems that provide specific guarantees. To the extent that Ireland claims that its existing system of judicial review meets the requirements of articles 3(7) and 4(4), it has failed to provide enough information to satisfy the requirements of the second sentence of the first paragraph of article 6 of the directive.

____________

1 – OJ L 175, p. 40

2 – OJ L 156, p.17

EU to take action over handling of Tara route for M3

The Irish Times Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Jamie Smyth in Brussels

The European Commission is expected to begin legal action against the Government today over the manner in which it has proceeded to build the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.
The decision will provide a boost to campaigners who are trying to force Minister for the Environment John Gormley to consider re-routing the motorway. The legal move is not expected to halt the construction of the road, but it will force the Government to defend its position at Europe’s highest court, a process that could eventually lead to the imposition of fines if it loses the case.

Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas will tell his commissioner colleagues at a meeting in Brussels today that the National Monuments Act in the Republic does not offer enough protection for important archaeological sites. He will also highlight alleged weaknesses in Irish law that split decision-making between Irish planning authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for industrial projects.

He cites the Government’s action at the Hill of Tara as a prime example of how it fails to conform to EU law. In a draft decision, which requires the approval of commissioners before taking effect, Mr Dimas refers Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over these shortcomings. “The commission considers Ireland’s approach to decisions involving the destruction or removal of historic structures and archaeological monuments to be in contravention of the directive,” says an explanatory note on the decision seen by The Irish Times. The relevant EU directive says there must be a proper assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

The commission believes a decision not to order a second environmental impact assessment when a potentially significant archaeological site was discovered at Lismullen, close to Tara, was “in contravention of the directive”. “Because the prehistoric site was only identified in 2007, its significance could not be taken into account in a 2003 assessment of the motorway project,” says the commission’s explanatory note.
Despite the EU executive’s concerns, in June the Government ordered that the Lismullen site be excavated without a second environmental impact assessment. It said no delay was possible due to the fragile nature of the site.

But campaigners hoping the commission would intervene directly to force the Government to halt construction of the M3 may be disappointed. The draft commission decision refers only to weaknesses in Irish legislation and does not question the Government’s choice of route for the M3. Neither does it seek any kind of court injunction that would force the Government to stop work on the motorway. The Government has argued that the motorway is a vital piece of national infrastructure and choosing an alternative route for the M3 would cause delays and cost up to €200 million extra.

Campaigners have fought a vocal campaign against the motorway, which they claim will spoil the Hill of Tara for future generations. The commission document claims that when decisions are being taken on proposed incinerators and other industrial projects, “Irish rules do not guarantee that interactions such as those between pollution-control measures and the landscape will be adequately assessed and taken into account.There are risks that outcomes required by the directive will not always be achieved,” it concludes.
The commission decision to start legal action will force the Government to defend its position at the ECJ in Luxembourg.

If it loses the legal case and does not amend its laws to conform with the relevant EU directive, it could eventually face heavy fines. Ireland currently faces 37 infringement proceedings for breaching environmental directives.

New tarapixie video – Happenings and actions from Rath Lugh
Irish Times: ‘M3 motorway protesters claim to have entered tunnel under road’
Irish Times: ‘Tara Protesters in for Long Haul’
Irish Independent: €30m bill for Tara digs as M3 battle heats up

Dispute over effects of M3 work

Irish Times – Tuesday, March 11, 2008

ADAM HARVEY

CONSTRUCTION WORK on the M3 motorway will continue at the foot of the ancient Rath Lugh promontory fort near Tara, despite claims from an NUI Galway archaeologist that the work is putting the site at risk.

The National Roads Authority says that a 2,000-year-old circular fortification – declared a national monument – will not be damaged by work to remove part of the hillside on which the fort sits.

“The construction work will not be impacting whatsoever on the declared national monument,” said Seán O’Neill, a spokesman for the NRA. “The area of the national monument is being avoided at all costs – the contractors have put up fencing, which the protesters have removed. There wouldn’t even be partial impacting on the site,” said Mr O’Neill.

However, Conor Newman, an archaeology lecturer at NUI Galway, says that the motorway will cut open the hillside on which Rath Lugh sits, and a steep cliff will eventually be formed just 20m from the outer wall of the fort.

The entire hill is unstable, he said, as it is built on an esker – a ridge made of small rocks left behind by the glacier that formed the local hills and valleys.

“It’s the bed of a river that ran under a glacier,” said Mr Newman, “small round stones held together by sand and silt.”

Mr Newman, and the small group of protesters camped on the side of the esker in the path of the M3, argue that cutting into the esker will inevitably damage Rath Lugh. “The monument is at the top of the esker – you can’t divorce one from another,” he said.

The protesters have built an elaborate camp on the side of the esker, and they say that they have also dug tunnels into the ground which they will occupy in an attempt to stop or delay construction.

The esker is one of the last obstacles to construction in the Lismullen area. The motorway’s path is clear from the side of the esker, as bulldozers have cleared the land on both approaches to the site. A confrontation with protesters is looming as the contractors will need to clear their camp to shore up the esker before work at the site can continue.

Mr Newman says the fort was one of the original defensive positions protecting the Hill of Tara, and would be one of the first purely military settlements built in Ireland. “It probably dates from shortly after the birth of Christ,” he said.

LISTEN TO BBC TARA DOCUMENTARY, AIRED 01 MARCH 2008

RTE Radio One: Today With Pat Kenny – Thur 6 March

The Herald (Scotland): The Celtic Tiger may yet turn on its master
Derry Journal: Destruction of Tara a “ruthless desecration”, says Heaney
Belfast Telegraph: Heaney vents his poetic outrage at sacrilege of Tara
The Times (UK): Heaney laments loss of Ireland’s ancient spirit to onward march of the Celtic Tiger
The Observer: Heaney hits at ‘desecration’ of sacred Tara
BBC News: Heaney hits out over ‘tara over Tara’
RTE News: Tara called ‘endangered site’ (video)
The Independent: Ancient Hill of Tara is put on ‘crisis list’ backed by WMF over road
The Irish Times: Hill of Tara set for endangered list
The Telegraph: British and Irish sites join global danger list The Gaurdian: Music hall and prehistoric site on endangered list

Heaney claims motorway near Tara desecrates sacred landscape

The Irish Times – Saturday, March 1, 2008

POET AND Nobel laureate Séamus Heaney has described the M3 motorway as a ruthless desecration of the sacred landscape around the Hill of Tara, in a BBC documentary to be broadcast today at 11.30am on Radio Ulster, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

In the same programme, Dr Jonathan Foyle, British chief executive of the World Monuments Fund, which placed Tara on its endangered sites list last year, likened the motorway to the destruction by Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in 2001 of the Bamiyan Buddhas.

In his interview with BBC reporter Diarmaid Fleming, Prof Heaney said the motorway “literally desecrates an area – I mean the word means to desacralise’ and, for centuries, the Tara landscape and the Tara sites have been regarded as part of the sacred gound”.

Referring to the 1916 Proclamation having summoned the Irish people “in the name of the dead generations”, he said: “If ever there was a place that deserved to be preserved in the name of the dead generations from pre-historic times . . . it was Tara”.

Prof Heaney added: “I suppose Tara means something equivalent to me to what Delphi means to the Greeks or maybe Stonehenge to an English person or Nara in Japan . . .It conjures up what they call in Irish dúchas, a sense of belonging a sense of patrimony, a sense of an ideal.

“The traces on Tara are in the grass, in the earth. They aren’t spectacular like temple ruins in Greece but they are about origin, they’re about beginning, they’re about the mythological, spiritual source – something that gives the country its distinctive spirit.”

He recalled that WB Yeats, George Moore and Arthur Griffith had written a letter to The Irish Times (below) complaining that the British Israelites, who thought the Ark of the Covenant was buried at Tara, were desecrating a “consecrated landscape” by digging there.So, I thought to myself, if a few holes in the ground made by amateur archaeologists was a desecration, what’s happening to that whole countryside being ripped up [for the M3] is certainly a much more ruthless piece of work,” Prof Heaney said.

According to Dr Foyle, the entire Tara complex “is the equivalent of Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey for its royal associations and Canterbury for its Christian associations all rolled into one” yet it was being destroyed “to shave 20 minutes off a journey time”.

The Hill of Tara

From: The Times June 27 1902
To: The Editor of The Times (London)

Sir- We have just returned from a visit to the Hill of Tara, where we found that the work of destruction, abandoned a year or two ago, has begun again. Labourers are employed to dig through the mounds and ditches that mark the siteof the ancient Royal duns and houses. We saw them digging and shovelling without any supervision, hopelessly mixing the different layers of earth and altering the contour of the hill.This is not being done through any antiquarian zeal; but; appartently, that the sect which believes the English to be descended from the Ten Tribes may find the Ark of the Covenant

We are assured that the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland can do nothing in this case, for by the Ancients Monuments Protection Act of 1882 they can only interfere when the “owner” has himself “constituted” them “the guardians of the monument.”

All we can do under the circumstances is to draw the attention of the public to this desecration. Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind

We are, Sir, yours truly

Douglas Hyde, LL.D

George Moore

W. B. Yeats

Dublin, June 24

MOTORWAY NEAR HILL OF TARA

Letters to the Editor – The Irish Times
4 March 2008

Madam, – This may seem nitpicky, but I just wanted to correct a couple of small errors in the article “Heaney claims motorway near Tara desecrates sacred landscape” (March 1st).

In it, Frank McDonald writes “He [ Heaney] recalled that WB Yeats, George Moore and Arthur Griffith had written a letter to The Irish Times complaining that the British Israelites, who thought the Ark of the Covenant was buried at Tara, were desecrating a ‘consecrated landscape’ by digging there.”

The now famous letter was actually published in the Times (London), June 27th, 1902 and was signed by WB Yeats, George Moore and Douglas Hyde.

Griffith was certainly part of the group that campaigned against that rape of Tara, but it was actually the man who was to be the first president of Ireland that signed the letter.

At the time of signing, Douglas Hyde was the president of the Gaelic League, a position he held for 22 years.

Another institution that campaigned vigorously for the preservation of Tara at that time was the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

Indeed, their current president, Aideen Ireland, did write a letter to The Irish Times (Letters, May 5th, 2005) stating: “More than 100 years ago this society campaigned vigorously to have ill-considered excavations by the British Israelites on the Hill of Tara stopped.

On that occasion the digging ceased and the site was preserved. It would be a scandal if Tara were now to be sacrificed in the interests of short-term progress.”

Heaney claims in the BBC interview that Tara was safer in the hands of the British government, who brought the excavations to a halt in 1903.

Today we can only hope that the EU government, who took legal action against Ireland over the M3, (The Irish Times, October 17th, 2007), can halt the desecration in similar fashion.

As Hyde, Yeats and Moore so aptly wrote in that same letter to the Times, “Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind.”

- Yours, etc,

VINCENT SALAFIA

TaraWatch.org,

Effra Road,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.

Madam, – Seamus Heaney’s attack on the M3′s desecration of Tara
is welcome, if late.

During Seamus Heaney’s writing life, Ireland itself has been
debased or desecrated through particular greed and lack of thought.

Given his place in Irish life and since among his themes are
Ireland and beauty, it would be good and normal to hear more from him
now about this reality. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL SMITH,

Ormond Quay Upr,

Dublin 6.

READ TEXT OF INTERVIEW BELOW:
Heaney hits out over ‘tar on Tara’
Diarmaid Fleming
BBC News

The construction of a motorway by the Irish Government through one of Ireland’s most historic areas has been condemned in a BBC Radio Ulster documentary, Tar on Tara, by the country’s foremost poet, Seamus Heaney, and other international experts. The M3 motorway is well under construction through the lush green and historical countryside of County Meath.Ireland’s biggest ever road project stretches 61km and is expected to cost around 800m euros. The motorway will take traffic north of Dublin, serving towns such as Kells and Navan in County Meath, and counties Cavan, Fermanagh and Donegal beyond. Towns in Meath and Cavan are now home to thousands of people working in Dublin many unable to afford to live there due to high property prices in the Irish capital. Numerous new housing estates have sprung up in towns and villages during Ireland’s recent economic boom. The speed of house-building has not been matched with investment in transport however, meaning that all commuters are forced to rely on road transport to get to Dublin. The area’s only railway line is used for freight only.

Best jams

The existing N3 road hosts the country’s worst traffic jams outside of Dublin, with trips between the city and Cavan 70 miles away taking well over two hours and sometimes even longer during rush-hour. Cars, trucks and buses snake in long lines through towns like Dunshaughlin, choking them for hours in mornings and evenings. The government decided a motorway was needed, with a new route away from the existing N3 road, instead bringing it through an area which is described by archaeologists internationally as the most important in Ireland and of world significance. The road under construction will run through the Tara Skreen valley, an area which has been of historical and religious significance in Ireland for thousands of years, with archaeological finds dating back to 4000BC. The Tara complex is bounded by the Hill of Tara, seat of the ancient High Kings of Ireland, and a place of sacred worship in both pagan and Christian times. 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

Seamus Heaney

Because the area represents such a long continuum of history – compared to other world famous monuments such as Stonehenge covering a shorter period of time – archaeologists say Tara is of extreme value in world terms. Each generation has followed the next in their reverence for the area, allowing archaeological experts to tell the story of civilisation in Ireland, as well as historical and religious worship, through the messages in its landscape and the artefacts left in its soil. Neither the National Roads Authority (NRA) nor the Irish minister for transport and local Meath TD Noel Dempsey were prepared to be interviewed for the documentary. The NRA has said however, that the road was chosen after public consultation, and that its choice was influenced by a range of factors it has to consider, of which archaeology is only one. Other factors such as the need to demolish homes, and to go through environmentally sensitive areas also had to be taken into account, the authority says. But critics say that the area, because of its unique sacred and historical importance, should never have been contemplated as the route for the road in the first place.

‘Ruthless’

Seamus Heaney in his first broadcast interview on the subject, told BBC Radio Ulster that the plan was a “ruthless desecration”. “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,” he said. “I was just thinking actually the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916 summoned people in the name of the dead generations and called the nation, called the people in the name of the dead generations.
“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.” The Nobel Laureate also said that under British rule in Ireland, Tara appeared to have more protection than in today’s Irish Republic. He said: “I was reading around recently and I discovered that WB Yeats and George Moore, two writers at the turn of the century and Arthur Griffith, wrote a letter to the Irish Times sometime at the beginning of the last century because a society called the British Israelites had thought that the Arc of the Covenant was buried in Tara, and they had started to dig on Tara Hill. “And they wrote this letter and they talked about the desecration of a consecrated landscape. So I thought to myself if a few holes in the ground made by amateur archaeologists was a desecration, what is happening to that whole countryside being ripped up is certainly a much more ruthless piece of work.” Mr Heaney said that the Celtic Tiger was attacking the ancient symbol of Ireland, the harp.

“It will be a sort of signal that the priorities on these islands have changed, I mean the Tiger is now lashing its tail and smashing its way through the harp – the strings of the harp are being lashed by the tail of the tiger,” he said. Heaney said that Tara was unique to him as an Irishman. “Tara means something equivalent to me to what Delphi means to the Greeks or maybe Stonehenge to an English person or Nara in Japan, which is one of the most famous sites in the world,” he said.

“It’s a word that conjures an aura – it conjures up what they call in Irish dúchas, a sense of belonging , a sense of patrimony, a sense of an ideal, an ideal of the spirit if you like, that belongs in the place and if anywhere in Ireland conjures that up – it’s Tara – it’s a mythical site of course.

“I mean the traces on Tara are in the grass, are in the earth – they aren’t spectacular like temple ruins would be in the Parthenon in Greece but they are about origin, they’re about beginning, they’re about the mythological, spiritual source – a source and a guarantee of something old in the country and something that gives the country its distinctive spirit.”

It was a government which decided that these monuments would be erased and cultural erasure is part of the game of war and buildings very often suffer from that
Dr Jonathan Foyle

Tara has been placed by the New York-headquartered World Monuments Fund (WMF) on its list of the world’s 100 most endangered sites.

WMF UK chief executive Dr Jonathan Foyle was scathing of the Irish government’s actions in routing the motorway through the valley, saying it ranked with the actions of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. “The World Monuments Fund watch list contains all sorts of endangered sites – this one actually reminds me of the Bamiyan Buddhas which were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001 against international uproar,” said Dr Foyle.

“It was a government which decided that these monuments would be erased and cultural erasure is part of the game of war and buildings very often suffer from that.

“It’s scarcely more creditable to say we will destroy a building which is of equal significance to the Bamiyan Buddhas – let’s face it, this entire site is the equivalent of Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey for its royal associations, Canterbury for its Christian associations – all rolled into one.”

Hundreds of academics, archaeologists and conservationist from around the world have written to the Irish government to register their opposition to the M3 route. Twenty-seven members of the European Parliament have written to the government also, after a visit to the area by some resulted in a highly critical report of the project.

Legality

The European Commission is considering legal action against the Irish government which granted itself the powers in 2004 to destroy features or areas of archaeological importance classified as national monuments if in the national interest. These powers were granted after the government lost a battle in the Irish Supreme Court against archaeological campaigners over the destruction of another monument during the construction of part of the M50 motorway in Dublin. A national monument at Lismullen close to Tara was discovered last year when an ancient “henge” or ceremonial temple was unearthed in the route of the M3 on 1 April, and then destroyed after its features were recorded.

While experts agreed the henge remnants could not be preserved once exposed, the European Commission is considering legal action over the European legality of Irish law relating to the powers the government has granted itself to destroy national monuments.
However, any action will not stop the road, well under construction by Irish and Spanish joint-venture SIAC Ferrovial, and expected to be completed within two years.

While Irish government politicians and supporters of the motorway such as business organisations frequently claim the road – and not the archaeologists – have the support of the majority of people, a recent opinion poll suggests the opposite. A national poll by Red C Research said that 62% opposed the route of the road, almost double the 32% in favour.

But whatever the views now, those who want to see the motorway come to Tara have won the day. Future generations studying Tara will see the 21st century’s major contribution to an area charting thousands of years of civilisation in Ireland was the new M3 motorway and its associated development.

Tar on Tara is broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster at 1430 GMT on Sunday 2 March.

Irish Times – Breaking News: New High Court action over Tara ruins
Breakingnews.ie: Activists make court bid to stop M3 (audio)
Press Association: Fresh bid to stop motorway
Daily Mail: High Court challenge to Gormley on M3 site
Irish Examiner: High Court action seeks to protect site near Tara

High Court action seeks to protect site near Tara
Irish Examiner – 06 February 2008
By Dan Buckley

A HIGH COURT action was launched yesterday aimed at protecting the Lismullin national monument near Tara. The action is being taken by Gordon Lucas, who is seeking to enforce EU directives on national monuments.
He is seeking an injunction and a declaration that the National Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law.  Lismullin was declared one of the top 10 most important archaeological discoveries in 2007 by Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. The Hill of Tara has also been placed on the 2008 list of 100 most endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund.

Last year, archaeologists working on the route of the motorway stumbled on a vast Iron Age ceremonial enclosure, or henge, surrounded by two walls. The 2,000-year-old site is about 2km from the Hill of Tara. The discovery of the henge, measuring about 260ft in diameter, confirmed the long-held belief that the area contains a rich complex of monuments. The extent of archaeological remains on the Hill of Tara — burial mounds, religious enclosures, stone structures, and rock art dating from the third millennium BC to the 12th century AD — makes it Ireland’s most spiritually and archaeologically significant site.

Lismullin and other sites that stand in the way of the new motorway are now approved for destruction. Although archaeologists are rallying support worldwide for the protection of the Hill of Tara, the iconic site remains in great peril, according to the lobbying group Tara Watch. The European Commission has initiated legal action against the Government over the M3, charging Ireland with failing to protect its own heritage.

A Red C opinion poll has found that almost two-thirds (62%) of Irish adults agree that the current format set down for the M3 is wrong, and that alternatives should be found to protect the heritage sites. More than half (58%) support a proposed heritage park solution, while 31% agree they would prefer to keep the M3 running through the valley as already agreed.

Vincent Salafia of protest group TaraWatch said: “This is a parallel case to the case being taken against Ireland by the European Commission, which states the Irish government is in breach of EU law. Work should cease immediately within the Tara archaeological complex, until this matter is resolved. “It is ironic that the Irish government is pushing its citizens to adopt the Lisbon Treaty, while they flatly refuse to obey current EU law with regards to protection of the environment and the national monument at Lismullin,” said Mr Salafia.

High Court challenge to Gormley on M3 site
Irish Daily Mail – 6 February 2008
by Paul Caffrey

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley faces a potentially embarrassing High Court challenge over a decision made by his predecessor to allow the M3 motorway to be built over an historic site near the Hill of Tara. The Green TD claimed when he came to office last June that he was powerless to over-turn a last-minute order made by outgoing Environment Minister Dick Roche for 2,000 year old ruins discovered last year near the Hill of Tara to be destroyed to make way for the M3.

The civil suit is being taken by one Gordon Lucas a resident of Limerick, who is seeking to enforce EU Environmental Assessment directives and the European Convention on Human Rights. Mr Lucas, who filed his Statement of Claim with with court officials yesterday, is seeking an injunction and a declaration that the National
Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law. He is taking his case against the Environment Minister, the National Roads Authority, the State and the Attorney General.

Last night, opposition politicians and environmental campaigners said the High Court action signals fresh embarrassment for Mr Gormley, and only highlights his failure to stand by his priniciples sinec entering Government with Fianna Fail. In a turbulent first day in office last June, Mr Gormley declared he had no authority to revoke his predecessor’s order, despite his commitment to protecting heritage.

But Labour’s Eamon Gilmore claimed the Minister could reverse the decision, citing section 22 of the Interpretation Act 2005. Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd made the damning charge against the Green Party chairman back then that the reason he had not done it was because he was politically emasculated by his new Fianna Fail masters. Former Environment Minister Dick Roche signed an order last year which allowed the archaeological site to be studied and then destroyed to make way for the motorway. Last night, Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd launched a stonging attack on Mr Gormley, saying that his ‘credibility is zero at this stage’. and that he ‘stands for nothing’.

Campaign group TaraWatch, which is demanding that the site be preserved says the case is being taken as a last resort, after the Government opted not to perform a new environmental impact assessment on the proposed demolition of the Lismullin national monument.

New High Court action over Tara ruins
Irish Times – Breaking news 05/02/2008 09:45

A new High Court action that aims to protect 2,000 year-old ruins discovered at Lismullin near the Hill of Tara is to be taken today.

The semicircular enclosure at Lismullen, about four miles south of Navan on the existing N3, lies across the northbound lane of the controversial new M3 motorway. It is 80 metres in diameter, dates from between 380BC and 520BC, and may be some kind of ceremonial site.

The new action is being taken by Gordon Lucas, a resident of Limerick, who is seeking to enforce EU environmental impact assessment directives and the European Convention on Human Rights.

He is seeking an injunction, and a declaration that the National Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law.

The Tarawatch campaign group, which is demanding that the site be preserved, said the case is being taken as a last resort, after the Government opted not to perform a new environmental impact assessment on the proposed demolition of the Lismullin national monument.

Expert evidence will also argue that Lismullin is a central part of the archaeological complex associated with the Hill of Tara, which was placed on the 2008 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund.

“This is a parallel case to the case being taken against Ireland by the European Commission, which states the Irish Government is in breach of EU law,” said Vincent Salafia of Tarawatch.

PRESS RELEASE

TARAWATCH

5 February 2008

‘New High Court Action to Protect Lismullin National Monument Being Launched Today’

A new High Court action, aimed at protecting the Lismullin national monument, which was discovered in the pathway of the M3 motorway last year, will be launched today.

The action is being taken by Mr. Gordon Lucas, a resident of Limerick, who is seeking to enforce EU environmental impact assessment directives and the European Convention on Human Rights. He is seeking an injunction, and a declaration that the National Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law.

The case is being taken as a last resort, after the Irish Government has refused to concede to pressure and a legal action from the European Environment Commission to perform a new environmental impact assessment on the proposed demolition of the Lismullin national monument.

Lismullin was recently declared one of the Top Ten Most Important Archaeological Discoveries in 2007, by Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. http://www.archaeology.org/0801/topten

Expert evidence will also argue that Lismullin is a central part of the archaeological complex associated with the Hill of Tara, which was placed on the 2008 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund.

A new survey by Red C Research opinion poll has shown that

- When asked directly, almost two thirds (62%) of all Irish adults agree that the current format set down for the M3 is wrong, and that alternatives should be found to protect the heritage sites.

- over half (58%) support a proposed Heritage Park solution, while less than a third (31%) agree they would prefer to keep the M3 running through the valley as already agreed.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

“This is a parallel case to the case being taken against Ireland by the European Commission, which states the Irish Government is in breach of EU law.
“Work should cease immediately within the Tara archaeological complex, until this matter is resolved for once and for all.

“It is ironic that the Irish Government is pushing its citizens to adopt the Lisbon Treaty, while they flatly refuse to obey current EU law with regards to protection of the environment and the national monument at Lismullin.
ENDS

More information contact info@tarawatch.org
Archaeology Magazine – Top Ten Discoveries
World Monuments Fund – 2008 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites
Red C Research – Tara/ Skryne Opinion Poll