New Landscape Guidelines for the Tara Skryne Valley are Meaningless

A  project to protect the landscape and improve planning decisions nationally is to be piloted in the Tara Skryne valley, Co Meath. It will be carried out by the Heritage Council in conjunction with Meath County Council, who will develop a landscape management plan and designate a landscape conservation area.

Initial funding of €25,000 is being provided by the Heritage Council and the local authority. Further funding is expected from the Department of the Environment next year. The end cost is expected to be about €125,000.

The project will begin in the autumn and is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months, by which time the Highway will be completed. It will examine current and potential land use and develop a plan for the area. The project will have community input and will be led by Meath county council. It is unclear what is meant by “community input,” given the Irish Government’s record in implementing its own laws and regulations with regard to developments which it favours.

In Corrib, to give one relevant example, the Department of the Environment has granted permission to the Shell Oil to construct a key section of onshore pipeline without approval from An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Infrastructure Act.

Shell EP Ireland and its consultants RPS had said earlier this summer that the entire onshore section would be submitted to An Bord Pleanála under the new fast-tracking legislation, apart from two estuary crossings which are regarded as “marine” and come under the Foreshore Act.

However, the Department of the Environment has stated that a high-pressure section at the Glengad landfall which runs under Dooncarton Mountain, location of a 2003 landslide, and across a public beach used by locals and tourists is “exempted” from planning approval under the Planning and Development Act 2000. Clearly, the Government is quite willing to exempt multinational corporations from planning procedures in order to facilitate the opening up of Ireland’s resources to exploitation.

In the Tara / Skryne Valley, the Lismullen Monument, which was a designated National Monument, is to be buried underneath the M3 Highway. The 2004 National Monuments Act grants the Minister for the Environment the right to order a monument’s demolition after an excavation.  Since the Lismullen Monument was undiscovered (according to the official story) until shortly before the offical commencement of works at the Highway, it is a fair bet that there are other monuments, which lie undiscovered around the Tara – Skrene Valley. These will be excavated, and demolished in their turn, to open up the Tara / Skrene Valley to whatever form of development is planned for the valley.

Heritage Council chief executive Michael Starrett described the landscape project as an important step towards the realisation of a national landscape strategy. “Landscape management is about accommodating change and development. It provides a much more holistic approach than the current model, to planning how we manage and develop the landscape where we live. It enables local communities to play an essential role in managing their own area, and has been very successful when introduced in other European countries.”

He said the project was about finding a successful model that could be applied to special landscapes across the State and another pilot was planned for the Burren, details of which will be announced later in the year.Separate studies published last year by the Heritage Council and Fáilte Ireland concluded there was an urgent need for clear guidelines on land use.

The studies also found that Ireland was the only country in Western Europe that had not specifically legislated for managing landscape on a national level. It is unclear whether the Heritage Council scheme will substitute for such legislation, or whether legislation will follow as a result. If there is no legislation, then the Heritage Council guidelines are not legally binding. According to Tarawatch, the Heritage Council recommended in 2002 that a national programme of Landscape Characterisation be undertaken. Draft guidelines prepared by the Department of Environment on landscape characterisation, which would have prevented this entire controversy, have been in circulation since 2000, and are only now being implemented. The essentials of this Tara Management Plan were urged by Mr. Starrett, at the Oireachtas Environment Committee in 2004, long before the public-private partnership contract for the highway was signed, and the decision to build the M3 in the middle of the landscape could have been easily altered. In fact, many of the same protections were already written into the two previous Meath County Development Plans, and have never enforced by Meath County Council. As a result, this announcement is a fine piece of publi relations, without meaning or operative substance.

Sources:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0728/1217013338353.html

http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=725

Meath Post Evidence: Navan to Dublin Railway Project will Not Go Ahead

”The Navan to Dublin railway project looks to be dead in the water after it was revealed that one of two key bridges along the M3 protecting the route is not being built.

Site visits by the Meath Post to both locations at Pace (Dunboyne) and Cannistown (Navan) has revealed that whilst the bridge protecting the railway at Dunboyne is being constructed, the bridge south of Navan is not, and the M3 is now being built directly across the railway alignment.

News of this missing bridge and its impact on the Navan Dublin railway project is likely to be met with anger by Meath’s commuters.

However Iarnród Éireann claim that the NRA have factored in the problem and will build embankments to allow the railway to go ahead.

During the planning process for the M3 in 2003, concerns were raised by Iarnród Éireann that reopening of the Navan Dublin railway would be made too costly if M3 planners were allowed cut the former railway line in two by running the M3 through it without first building a bridge.

Local railway campaigners, using information from Iarnród Éireann, succeeded in obtaining the insertion of two railway bridges in the M3 plans to protect efforts to reopen the railway.

Under order of An Bord Pleanála, Meath County Council drew up plans for one bridge at Dunboyne to protect the former railway line, and another at Cannistown just south of Navan.

As recently as 2006, Meath County Council planning office insisted that both bridge plans remained on file and that the Navan Dublin railway line was being protected.

An Bord Pleanála’s ruling stated that a bridge to allow the railway pass beneath the M3 similar to the Dunboyne bridge should be constructed at Cannistown. The instruction was that unless Iarnród Éireann indicated that they intended following a new rail route for at this section then the bridge as designed should be inserted.

To run the line over the motorway would take an enormous effort and massive cost, with a 26 foot embankment required to run for kilometres on either side of the M3 to allow the railway pass above the motorway.

As late as last month, Iarnród Éireann indicated that this section of the former line was being retained, but the evidence in this photograph shows this has not happened.

Despite this, a spokeswoman told the Meath Post that the NRA are aware of their responsibilities.

“The (the NRA) are going to make provision and embankments will be built that will allow the railway to go ahead”. ”

Source:

Meath Post, 12th. July 2008 via SaveTara: http://www.savetara.com/articles/2008/071208_dead.html

Evidence of Kale Planting at Rath Maeve and Tractor Damage at Colvonstown, near Hill of Tara

” Rath Maeve, M.143, is a large circular rath and a protected national monument close to Tara. It was the mythological home of Maeve, the old earth goddess and consort of successive kings of Tara. As such it has a central place in our heritage and should be afforded all the respect and care it deserves. However yesterday when we visited it we were shocked to see that the entire rath has been planted with Kale. This involved it been ploughed up, planted and it is to be expected, later harvested. Kale is a deep growing vegetable with a long tap root. The harvesting will entail soil disturbance to a dept of at least half a metre. As far as we know no archeologically investigation has taken place on Rath Maeve and no archaeologist was present at the ploughing so priceless items belonging to our history and heritage could have been removed or destroyed. It is known and accepted that this happened in the past and much of what was of value under our soil was destroyed or carried away. That this is again happening today and under a green environment minister beggars belief.“
See the rest of this article at:

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/88213

John Farrelly – Independent Tara Campaigner Wed Jul 02, 2008

Professor George Eogan condemns Rath Lugh Intervention

The National Roads Authority has stated work is advancing on the M3 motorway in the area close to the Rath Lugh National Monument. Protesters and conservationists have stated that the esker, a glacial ridge, is an integral part of the 2,000-year-old fortification. Construction work on the Rath Lugh section of the M3 has continued regardless, with the north and southbound sections being excavated to foundation level. Crushed stone has been poured into this foundation to allow haulage trucks past Rath Lugh.

Rath Lugh was already the scene of clashes in March 2008. Three people were arrested when protesters tried to stop construction workers from erecting a permanent steel fence between the fort and the proposed route that the motorway will follow. A metal palisade fence was 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 were based.

The fence was completed by road-building contractor Eurolink on Saturday, 22nd March.

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.

On Friday 21 March 2008, the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, of the Green Party, was reported as stating that he could “give a cast-iron assurance” that the national monument at Rath Lugh would not be damaged by building the motorway along the current alignment.” Professor George Eogan * travelled to Rath Lugh with the TaraWatch group, and witnessed the building works there.

Rath Lugh Monument under increased threat as protesters moved on

The Protest Camp based at Rath Lugh has now been evicted. At one o’ clock, four Protectors who were on site were told by Gardai that they had to gather up their belongings and leave. This was not done in an aggressive manner and was complied with by the protesters.

Once the protesters had left Rath Lugh woods no protester was allowed back in. According to the Direct Action Group, there were 20 Gardai, 3 Garda Cars present, plus 2 Vans as well as a dozen Construction Workers at the entrance to the woods. A steel fence has now been erected separating Rath Lugh National Monument from the public road. A mini digger is busy creating a path and a low loader is in situ.

Office of Public Works begins move to remove Hill of Tara “squatters”

THE Office of Public Works (OPW) has served a formal notice to quit on what it has described as “squatters” on the Hill of Tara.

Minister of State at the OPW, Noel Ahern, has told Meath East TD Thomas Byrne the move is being made in response to concerns of local people that damage was being done to the hill by M3 motorway protestors living in camps there.

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.

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 Update: High Court Case Pending while Demolition Continues

Approximately 80 personnel including several Gardai not displaying their numbers have descended on Rath Lugh.

There are 3 vehicles on the esker and a tractor half way up. This is seriously jeopardising the life of the girl pictured above who is locked into the tunnel by the neck. The Gardai are aware of this and are paying no heed!!!!

There is also a tractor heavy laden with steel works approaching from the Baronstown side and 22 jeeps have been counted.