Opposition TDs and Senators Pledge to Challenge Government Over M3 Motorway

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

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.

Sign the new online SAVE TARA - UNESCO petition

HILL OF TARA / M3 MOTORWAY - UNESCO / ICOMOS PETITION

THIS PETITION is addressed to:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which includes:

• The Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura
• The Executive Committee of the General Conference
• The Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, called the World Heritage Committee
• All parties in attendance at the 32nd Session of the World Heritage Committee, Quebec, Canada, 2-10 July 2008.
• The Irish UNESCO Representatives

AND

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which includes:

• ICOMOS International
• ICOMOS Ireland
• All other national ICOMOS bodies, such as
- ICOMOS Canada,
- ICOMOS UK,
- ICOMOS US,
- ICOMOS Australia,
- ICOMOS Norway, and
- ICOMOS Aotearoa/New Zealand
• All parties in attendance at the ICOMOS Ireland AGM, Dublin, 4 June 2008
• All parties in attendance at the Sixth World Archaeological Congress, University College Dublin, 29th June to 4th July 2008

WHOSE JURISDICTIONS have been jointly invoked in this matter of great national and international importance by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local overnment, of the Republic of Ireland, John Gormley, on 11 May, 2008, in his address at the launch of the legal incorporation and charitable status designation of ICOMOS Ireland. He announced that he had retained an ICOMOS member, Dr Jukka Jokilehto to visit the sites currently on Ireland’s tentative list, as well as the Hill of Tara. Minister Gormley concluded,

“The Hill of Tara National Monument has strong merit for inclusion in an application to UNESCO for consideration as a World Heritage site”, and that he did “... not see the proposed new road (the M3 motorway) as being an obstacle to making this recommendation.”

I EARNESTLY AND RESPECTFULLY PLEAD THAT:

[I.] The Hill of Tara archaeological complex / cultural and natural landscape, in it's entirety, (hereinafer referred to as “Tara”) be inscribed onto the UNESCO List of World Heritage sites.

BUT ONLY on condition that:

[II.] The proposed M3 motorway, (hereinafter referred to as “the M3”) currently under construction, is re-routed beyond Tara, before the site is given World Heritage Site status, because he M3 is destroying the integrity of the site and landscape,

I MAKE THIS PETITION FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

- UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (“The Convention”) in 1972. Ireland ratified the Convention in 1991. The Convention has as its goal the identification and protection of cultural and national heritage of “outstanding universal value”.
- The Hill of Tara complex qualifies as a natural and cultural landscape of outstanding universal value, due to it's unique cultural significance, and the extent of the surviving remains. Tara covers a much larger area than that the 100 acres of State-owned land on the summit of the Hill, which currently delimits the 'national monument'. The M3 passes through the middle of the area to be protected. The entire Tara archaeological complex and cultural/natural landscape should be declared a World Heritage site. Expert bodies, such as the Heritage Council, have recognised Tara consists of the entire Hill of Tara along with the Tara / Skryne valley, as well as the defensive forts that encircle the hill, including national monuments such as the defensive forts of Rath Lugh (to the east), Rath Miles (to the north) and Ringlestown Rath (to the west).
- Ireland has been in breach of the Convention since 1991, by failing to nominate the Hill of Tara to be a World Heritage site, until after the M3 motorway was approved. Article 3 of the Convention states: “It is for each State Party to this Convention to identify and delineate the different properties situated on its territory". A recent UN report on Ireland's implementation of the Convention found that “Inventories, established at national and local levels, have not been used as a basis for selecting World Heritage sites”. This has resulted in the contradictory approach being taken by the Irish Government, which is on one hand facilitating destruction of significant parts of the Tara complex, and on the other, seeking International legal protection for those same parts.
- The Minister for the Environment, has breached his responsibilities under the Convention by initiating the inscription process of making Tara a World Heritage site, while at the same time, failing in his legal duty adequately protect the Tara complex from the immient threat of the M3 motorway. John Gormley, said in a department press release, 11 April 2008, that he did not see M3 motorway preventing the Hill of Tara from being nominated as a world heritage site. He said his department had engaged Dr Jukka Jokilehto, a member of ICOMOS to visit Tara and issue a report on it. It is these statements and actions that have as well as other failures to act, that have invoked the jurisdiction of international law.
- ICOMOS is an international non-governmental organization of professionals, dedicated to the conservation of the world’s historic monuments and sites, and is an offical Advistory Body to UNESCO, for purposes of implementing the World Heritage Convention. Both UNESCO and ICOMOS would also be in breach of the Convention by accepting the Minister's nomination of the Tara archaeological complex and cultural/natural landscape, without insisting that the M3 motorway is rerouted, while it still can be.
- National survey's have shown that 70% of Irish people want the M3 rerouted and an Irish Times online survey showed that 82% of people want Tara declared a UNESCO site.
- The World Monuments Fund have placed the Hill of Tara on the 2008 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites.

SIGNED

_______________________________

[Published by TaraWatch.org, 4 June 2008]

Take the Tara Protection Pledge

TaraWatch is launching the Tara Protection Pledge drive. We need to build a rapid reaction force, in the event of works beginning on the national monument. Please fill in the form with your mobile number and email address. They will not be published on the petition page. This petition just displays the number of signatories to the public.

Take the Tara Protection Pledge

To: Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche. [Petition posted 14 May 2007]

I understand you, Dick Roche, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, will decide the fate of a new national monument, discovered during the course of excavations for the M3 motorway, in County Meath, Ireland.

This national monument is a prehistoric royal ceremonial site, roughly 80 metres in diameter, that is believed by experts to be a part of the Hill of Tara archaeological complex. The Hill of Tara is Ireland's premier national monument, being the site of where 142 kings were crowned, and belongs to all the people of Ireland.

The Minister for the Environment and Heritage has a constitutional imperative; to give the national heritage the highest level of statutory protection possible.

The Minister has the power, under Section 14A(4)(d) of the National Monuments Act 2004, to reroute the M3 away from this national monument and the entire Tara complex.

Recent surveys have shown that 70% of Irish people want the M3 rerouted, and I make my pledge on behalf of that democratic majority.

If you decide to allow the M3 to carry on as planned, and instruct the National Roads Authority to demolish the national monument at Lismullen, I pledge to join TaraWatch and actively demonstrate against this decision in Lismullen, when I am called upon to do so.

The site must be preserved intact until such time as the Minister's decision can be judicially reviewed by the High Court.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

For more information please visit the http://www.tarawatch.org site