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Gormley to review State’s heritage sites policy

An extract from Irish Times article on 7th July 2007 by Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Minister for the Environment John Gormley is to carry out a complete review of the State’s archaeological policy and practice and may propose amending or even repealing the 2004 National Monuments Act.

This Act, introduced by Martin Cullen, invested the Minister with sole discretion to decide the fate of any national monument that might be in the path of a motorway. It was specifically designed to facilitate earlier delivery of the Government’s roads programme.

Yesterday, after releasing a file showing how his predecessor Dick Roche made his decision to permit the “preservation by record” of a prehistoric henge at Lismullen, Co Meath, Mr Gormley said he was already consulting archaeologists on what should be changed.

“I want to be as open as possible, to find the best way of going forward”, he said.

Asked if he would consider amending or repealing the 2004 Act, he said: “If changing legislation emerges from this process, I will look at that.”

(For full article see The Tara Bypass thread https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=4022&page=8)

@alonso wrote:

Peter MW doesn’t cross inside the M50 at all. I think you’re all falling into the same trap as people did with LUAS. A corridor of high density development is already under construction along this line.

Alsono re-read my post, I’m aware that metro west does not cross inside the m50, I am suggesting that it should. The stretch from Abbotstown to the Airport serves nothing & will facilitate mass sprawl outside the M50 with acres of land remaining undeveloped just inside.

Selected alignment outlined below together with what are in my view some of the problems with it.

Support for Heritage Protection Alliance of*Ireland
by Mark Garavan* May 23, 2007

I wish to fully support the call by the newly founded Heritage Protection Alliance of Ireland to repeal the National Monument Act 2004.

It is a matter of great importance that the rich archaeological heritage of the country be fully protected and preserved. It is clear that the consequence of the 2004 Act is that this is not happening in an appropriate and comprehensive manner.

The maintenance and preservation of our diverse cultural resources is a mark of a civilized society. However, these resources include not only our physical artefacts and remains but also our communities. Of particular importance are our Irish-speaking communities as these contain such an immense and important cultural wealth for all of us. All of our communities need to inhabit a humanised physical and cultural space where historical continuity and modernity exist in harmony.

For this reason I have called for a mandatory pre-planning phase whereby developers of large infrastructural projects must engage in real dialogue and agreement with communities affected by their projects. This pre-planning stage would include identifying the cultural features – both physical and psychological – which must be preserved from possible damage. In this way development and cultural sustainability can be better reconciled.

Found here:
http://markgar.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/support-for-heritage-protection-alliance-of-ireland/

*From the summer of 2005 Mark Garavan was*spokesperson for the Rossport Five and subsequently acted as spokesperson for the Shell to Sea campaign until earlier this year. He has written widely on the issue of the Corrib gas project and also on wider issues of sustainability and democracy.

Campaign to Save Tara supports the Heritage Protection Alliance of Ireland
The Campaign to Save Tara welcomes and supports the announcement of the Heritage Protection Alliance of Ireland and their call to repeal the National Monument Act of 2004. Ireland had the best protection of heritage in Europe until Minister Cullen amended this act and effectively gave ministers the power to destroy National Monuments in order to facilitate the agenda of unbridled and unsustainable development in the name of progress.

Archaeology must be taken back into the care of the state and away from the NRA and the private archaeological contracting companies that it employs. Dúchas, or a body of its kind, must be put in place with an independent voice for archaeology.

The practice of “preservation by record” is the order of the day and this is what faces the new National Monument at Lismullin. Why declare the appearance of a National Monument one week only to order its destruction the next? The Campaign to Save Tara asks that this site be fully investigated and then covered over and left in peace. The Campaign also asks that the whole area between it and Rath Lugh and its environs, including what used to be Lismullin Wood, be fully investigated by independent archaeologists and not those associated with the NRA. The Campaign also demands that the full extent of the associated finds at Lismullin be given and published immediately by the NRA.

Dr. M. Ní Bhrolcháin said: “Tara is the line in the sand. If the Government are allowed to destroy Tara’s landscape then nowhere in Ireland is safe. The aerial shots taken by the Campaign clearly show that the whole Gabhra Valley is a monument and the road cannot be moved within it without destroying another possible National Monument. Sites such as Collierstown, Roestown and Baronstown should also have been declared as National Monuments”.

Michael Canney said: “This new heritage protection alliance is absolutely necessary if we are to stop the increasing trend of seeing our heritage as a obstacle to progress; as some kind of inconvenience to a glorious concrete-covered future. The time has come, and the public are way ahead of the political classes in this regard, where we must recognize environmental protection and economic development as a shared goal, because it is only through thoughtful management of our environmental and heritage resources, that future prosperity is guaranteed”.

For further Information call:
Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, 087-9249510 or
Michael Canney, 086-8528200
17 May 2007

From http://www.savetara.com/statements/051707_alliance.html

@jungle wrote:

Is there enough spare land in the Connolly area to bring a track above ground there?

No thats one of the problems, the tunnel would have to continue on to spencer anyway to surface and connect with the northern line.

I suppose your chance for input is next week Seamus.

I don’t see a better route alignment to be honest from a connectivity view point, save a far more expensive tunnel that would possibly straddle the liffey south/north/south/north.

I would simply like to see the thing built, as proposed, although talk of a ‘naturally-lit’ station within Stephen’s Green worries me.

I see they’re officially calling it ‘Dart Underground‘ now which at least gives some semblance of what the thing is or might mean to people on the street.

Thanks for posting that.

@henno wrote:

but again, any ban save for farmers would be challanged as positive discrimination……..
no difference to the spirit of the guidelines, youd simply be moving the goalposts….

That is common practice on most European countries as it does not discriminate on the basis of race etc etc.

Hats

I’ll get you a slot at Mahon Point!!

Had forgotten about that one … shame about its condition, is it still active ? I noticed plenty of near replica’s in San Francisco & elsewhere I imagine.

It isn’t signed off yet is it?

1. I have not suggested a total blanket ban as people working the land need to be accommodated; no other person has a prima facia need and should therefore have the same rules as their fellow citizens.

2. How exactly?

3. Until the county manager over-rules the planners; it happens every day. The sham that is the system is entirely illustrated by the 95% success rate in An Taisce appeals. The land is unzoned and unsuitable for development 95% of the time according to An Bord Pleananla

4. That is nonsense; the crap that is thrown up with PVC windows, Spanish tiled roofs and pastel renders together with disjointed garage blocks is the typical product.