Shell Oil receives approval to drill in Sruwaddaccon Bay, Co. Mayo

Shel Ireland has announced that it has received State approval to drill boreholes in Sruwaddaccon Bay, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in North Mayo, as part of work on the Corrib gas project.

The company has also confirmed it is “reviewing” grant aid it has earmarked for a north Mayo community affected by the 2003 Dooncarton landslide, due to local dissent over the application.

New fishing body seeks “compliance culture”

Irish fishermen face increasingly strict enforcement of fish catch regulations with the introduction of the new Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.

The SFPA was officially launched yesterday afternoon by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan. The authority’s chairman, Peter Whelan, said it would enforce a ‘culture of compliance’ every hour of every day to end illegal fishing.

Professor George Eogan states that Bremore port site is of vast historic importance

The site earmarked for the proposed new port at Bremore, near Balbriggan in north County Dublin is of huge archaeological and historic importance and may be where St Patrick first landed in Ireland, according to one of the country’s most eminent archaeologists.

Professor George Eogan has expressed concern about plans by the Drogheda Port company to build a new deepwater port, at an estimated cost of €300 million, at Bremore on the north Dublin coast.

Professor Eogan, emeritus Professor of Celtic Archaeology at University College Dublin, is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s foremost archaeologists, and was awarded the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in the Humanities for his outstanding contribution to Irish Archaeology. Professor Eogan led the 40-year programme of archaeological work on Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth and is considered to be a world authority in this area. As a result, the Boyne Valley was established as a national park and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Controversial Closure of RTÉ’s Medium Wave service

Today saw the final broadcast of RTÉ’s mediumwave service (567 kHz), which was launched in 1932, and has served people in rural and remote parts of the country as well as the Irish community abroad ever since then. Research has shown that one in ten radio listeners have availed of the mediumwave service. Many farmers and fishermen also relied upon it for weather reports. RTÉ justified this decision, which has been criticised by emigrant groups, rural people and politicians, due to the cost of continuing the service, which shares most of its content with Radio 1 FM, apart from the midweek soccer game and Sunday religious services.

Easter Monday at Rath Lugh: NRA Intensifies Program of Action to Complete M3 Motorway

 

A metal palisade fence has been erected between the construction site of the M3, close to the Rath Lugh national monument in Co. Meath, and a camp in which protesters and conservationists are based.

The fence was completed by road-building contractor Eurolink on Saturday, 22nd March. The fence has been put in place according to the NRA, to keep the protesters from digging new tunnels – similar to one which had been occupied for 60 hours by protester Lisa Feeney – in the path of the M3 motorway.

Good Friday Newsflash from the Tara Foundation:

The mound upon which ancient Rath Lugh rests is now being sliced for the M3 Motorway.

The National Roads Authority has stated work is advancing on the M3 motorway in the area close to Rath Lugh where protestors have set up camp. Up to fifty Gardaí are said to be at the scene.

The NRA says it is putting in place what is known as a ‘box cut’, which outlines the road’s route. It is also building a quib wall and security fencing. It says the steps are being taken for health and safety reasons, and with the advice and consent of the Gardaí.

The NRA alleges that workers at Rath Lugh are being intimidated by protestors, and that a civil understanding reached with Lisa Feeney allowing for the fencing to be put in place has not been honoured. Previously the NRA had claimed that no agreement was reached with the tunnel protestor.

Rath Lugh Protestors Served with OPW Evictions Notices

 

Rath Lugh National Monument protestors are getting legal notices to quit this morning, signed and dated by the Office of Public Works. The OPW are run by the Department of the Environment, OPW Headquarters is located at 52 St. Stephen’s Green. The OPW Contact information is as follows:

 

 

Email: info@opw.ie
Phone: 353-1-6476000
LoCall: 1890 213414
Fax: 353-1-6610747

The EU is apparently operating under the belief that works on the M3 ceased pending hearing at the Court of Justice.

Tunnel Protestor says there is now a month-long reprieve for Rath Lugh National Monument

On Sunday, 16th March 2008, Lisa Feeney ended her protest at the site of the M3 motorway in Co Meath after several days in an underground tunnel.

Anti-M3 protestors claim Lisa Feeney agreed to leave after striking a deal with the National Roads Authority to suspend work for a month at Rath Lugh.

Her protest was aimed at preventing construction work on the M3 motorway, near the Rath Lugh national monument, in the Tara/Skryne valley.

Tara Protester in tunnel under esker at Rath Lugh National Monument

Rath Lugh Newsflash: 15th March 2008: 100 Protestors Now at Frontline Rath Lugh Camp.

 

 

Construction of part of the M3 motorway at Rath Lugh, near Tara, Co. Meath, is being delayed by a protester who is refusing to emerge from a 10m (33ft) deep tunnel dug into the motorway site.

Lisa Feeney from Dublin, who says she is a psychology graduate aged in her early 20s, told The Irish Times via two-way radio yesterday that she was “comfortable”, well-equipped and was passing her time by reading a book by Pádraig Pearse by candlelight.

“It’s grand”, Ms. Feeney said. “They haven’t cut off my air supply, so it’s comfortable enough. I’m prepared to stay here for months”.

Rath Lugh Monument Survey carried out by International Engineering Company with connections to Global Mining Industry

The National Monuments Service, part of the Department of the Environment, commissioned a Technical Memorandum on the Rath Lugh National Monument from the Irish Office of Golder Associates. The memorandum is a review of a previous report from AGL Consulting Ltd., regarding the geotechnical stability of the Rath Lugh Monument.

 

Due to the proximity of the motorway alignment in a cut area to the south eastern slope of the monument, the road contractor wish to carry out works which involve steepening of the existing slope. It is currently proposed to use a 60° soil nail slope to achieve this. This steepening and its consequences for the stability of Rath Lugh National Monument are the subject of both the technical memorandum and the AGL report.