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Wicklow - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

Stop the Sale of Public Forest assets - Support the Day of Action in Avondale House and Forest Park

category wicklow | environment | event notice author Sunday April 14, 2013 00:00author by Hiker - Woodland League

Save our resources. Protest walk in the woods to stop sell off of forests and loss of access

This walk in the woods is to highlight the campaign to stop the government’s plan to sell off the harvesting rights to Ireland’s public forests under the EU/IMF “Troika” programme and to maintain them in public ownership.

The sell off of the harvesting rights will mean that the government will lease the land for 99 years to private companies. There will be absolute no guarantee of public access and the companies will be under no obligation to provide it. This will affect all the different people who use our national forests such as hikers, walkers, bikers, horse riding, tourists, cross-country runners, sports people and many others. It also affects access rights for your children and their children.

The event will feature music, readings and poetry with musicians Christy Moore and Paddy Casey, Actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack
directions_to_avondale_house_rathdrum_wicklow.jpg

Avondale House and Park was the onetime home of land league founder, Charles Stewart Parnell and is a prominent Coillte property. It was for a long time a forestry school symbolically connected to Ireland’s forests and history.

There will be songs, poems and words from prominent artists, musicians and activists

Confirmed Musicians Christy Moore and Paddy Casey, Actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack

Some recent coverage at: Irish Times: Walk in the woods to protest forest sale
Assemble in the car park - Bring raingear and suitable footwear.

Event Date:
April 28, 2013 - 13:00

Venue details:
Avondale House and Forest Park
Rathdrum
Co. Wicklow.

For directions to Rathdrum. Take the N11 south from Dublin towards Rathnew / Wicklow town. At Rathnew see signage for Rathdrum. From Rathdrum see map below

For more background to the sellout of our forests see:

Govt Plans to Sell Off Our Forests for 3 days Worth of Expenditure. Public Will Loose Access for 90 Years
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103414

The Elephant In The Forest Asset Sale Debate
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103415

See also: Sale of Coillte harvesting rights will cost State dear
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/sale-of-coillte-harvesting-rights-will-cost-state-dear-1.1323765

Donations:
For those who wish to donate to the Woodland League the details:

Woodland League Bank of Ireland, Tulla, Co Clare.
Account No: 80998623. Sort Code: 90-44-80.

Background to Avondale

Avondale was planted with trees by Samuel Hayes in the 18th century, he was a relative of Parnell's and was passionate about trees and the reforestation of Ireland. He wrote the only Irish book on treeplanting, care and management, published in 1794, "A practical treatise on the planting and managment of woods and coppices". At the time he began to write this book, he said he wanted to do more than merely instruct people how to plant and manage trees, via an instruction manual, he wanted to inspire his countrymen to Love Trees. We would like to plant a tree in memory of Samuel Hayes as part of the day in Avondale.

Hayes was a member of Henry Grattan's Irish parliament, he was also friend and associate of Grattan. whose parliament had gained limited Independence only to vote itself out of existence. Irish MP's who were not affiliated to Grattan were offered the sum of 15,000 pounds as an incentive/bribe, to vote for the Act of Union in 1801. Charles Parnell inherited Avondale and continued the planting of trees on the grounds, he was known affectionately as "The Great Oak of Avondale". When Parnell died in 1891 broken and bankrupt, Avondale was sold to a Dublin butcher from Phibsboro ( any relation to Bertie Ahern..??? ) who proceeded to fell most of the trees for short term gain. The butcher may have represented a syndicate who pooled their money to buy the estate to cash in on the trees and sell the land at a later date. It seems history repeats itself and as the other saying goes....there is nothing new under the sun.

More information on Samuel Hayes and Avondale can be found at the link below.

http://www.glendalough.connect.ie/pages/articles/history/pages/avondale.html

PDF Document walk_in_the_woods_apr28_flyer_cover_page.pdf 0.18 Mb


PDF Document walk_in_the_woods_apr28_flyer_back_page.pdf 0.11 Mb

Comments (8 of 8)

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author by Tpublication date Wed Apr 17, 2013 21:20author address author phone

These are the images extracted from the two PDFs above.

save_irelands_forests_a_walk_in_the_woods_apr28_cover_page.jpg

save_irelands_forests_a_walk_in_the_woods_apr28_back_page.jpg

author by Tpublication date Wed Apr 17, 2013 21:33author address author phone

Today is International Day of the Forest,

The Woodland league in our Alternative Vision for Forestry, use the example set by the Native American Menominee people in sustainably managing their native forest resource as a supreme model of Sustainable economics, that enhances the associated Social and Environmental values.

" *It is said of the Menominee people that the sacredness of their land is their very body, the values of their culture is their very soul and the water is their very blood. It is obvious then, that the forest and its living creatures can be viewed as food for their very existence* ".

Link to Alternative Vision for Forestry below.

http://www.woodlandleague.org/documents/WllPilotProject2011.pdf

Thank you for your continued support for the Woodland League campaign, Save Ireland's Forests, our petition now has 36,500 signatures online and approx 4000 hard copy, and continues to rise.

There has been an upsurge of public interest and media attention regards the sale of Ireland's forests issue, we would like to continue to add pressure on the government to back down on their plans to sell the harvesting rights to Ireland's Public forests. We want the Public forests to remain in Public ownership in perpetuity.

The Woodland League are intending to organise a walk in Avondale, co Wicklow, the home of Charles Parnell and also a prominent Coillte forest property, it was also a forestry school for a long time and is very symbolically connected to Ireland's forest history.

Editor Note: This is confirmed as Apr 28th as above.

author by Tpublication date Wed Apr 17, 2013 22:24author address author phone

This is a very good segment from AlJazeera and well worth spending the 2 minutes watching it.

Accompanying text:

Ireland is considering a controversial new scheme to sell off parts of its forests, as a part of efforts to meet demands from the International Monetary Fund to reduce its debts. Ireland is not the only eurozone member to try to sell off its environment to make some money. Greece has put some of its islands up for sale. But the move would make Ireland the only country in the developed world without a publicly owned forest. Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports from Wicklow, Ireland.

Image framegrab from near start
Image framegrab from near start

aljazeera_video_selloff_of_irelands_forests_pic2.jpg

Caption: Video Id: 5g76uHk5O8E Type: Youtube Video
Ireland mulls selling forests to pay debt


author by Hikerpublication date Sun Apr 28, 2013 23:14author address author phone

It has been reported that over 4,000 attended the event today which is a very good turnout.

And the WoodLand League posted the following this evening on their Facebook page.

It was wonderful and encouraging to see thousands people turn up at Avondale to oppose government plans to sell public forest harvesting assets and to show their enjoyment of woodlands as special places of heritage and biodiversity. Hope all can follow up and contact Minster of Agriculture Simon Coveney and all other public representatives to make sure public forest assets are NOT sold. Use easy link website to contact national and local public representatives: http://www.contact.ie/ Lots of push needed on this in next couple of weeks before this is due in Cabinet for decision on what course of action our government will take. Thanks to all!!!

author by Tpublication date Sat Jun 01, 2013 00:50author address author phone

The video below contains coverage from the event back on April 28th at Avondale House and shows some of the main speakers.

There is a 2nd video produced by Trade Union TV

Caption: Video Id: XS0IUIVMmQ8 Type: Youtube Video
Save Irelands Forests , Woodland League , Avondale, Co.Wicklow , 28th April 2013


Caption: Video Id: JaimKTiTCN8 Type: Youtube Video
Thousands walk in the woods to stop privatisation of Ireland


author by W. Finnertypublication date Sat Jun 01, 2013 09:00author address author phone

I was very pleased -- and heartened!! -- to see Andrew St Ledger read out Article 6.1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland on the youtube clip at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...VMmQ8

It has long been my opinion that if "the people" of the Republic of Ireland know what's good for them, for the purpose of best getting through these very troubled and potentially very dangerous times safely, they need to learn Article 6.1 "off by heart"; and, to use it at every opportunity they can find -- in the kind of way Andrew St Ledger has done on the above mentioned youtube clip -- to defend the basic legal rights of "the people" of the Republic of Ireland: and particularly the basic rights of the next generation who are at present too young to use it on behalf of themselves in order to defend themselves against all the EXTREME looting and pillage of our nation that that might be described "as work in progress" at the present time.

Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann (Constitution of the Republic of Ireland) reads as follows (in full):

"All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good."

Peaceful protests by "the people" of the Republic of Ireland are both necessary and good (as I see things) at the present time, but, by themselves, they will NEVER (in my opinion) be good enough to defeat those who exploit widespread ignorance among "the people" of Article 6.1, and the basic political and legal principles it very strongly and efficiently represents. These deeply embedded high-quality political and legal principles are at the very heart of the high-quality statecraft we "the people" now desperately need, and their origins can readily be traced back to the "Golden Days" of ancient Athens, of some 2,500 (or so) years ago.

Related Link:
Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann, SUPREME LAW of the Republic of Ireland, Banksters, Human Rights Ireland ...
http://tinyurl.com/kjehpq7

author by W. Finnertypublication date Mon Jun 03, 2013 09:46author address author phone

"Many billions of Euros are being extracted from Europe’s vassal-debtor nations – Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland –and transferred to the creditor banks, financial speculators and swindlers located in the City of London, Wall Street, Geneva and Frankfort."

"To learn first-hand about the capitalist crisis and the workers’ responses, I spent the better part of May (2013) in Ireland and the Basque country meeting with labor leaders, rank and file militants, unemployed workers, political activists, academics and journalists. Numerous interviews, observations, publications, visits to job sites and households - in cities and villages -provide the basis for this essay."

"In the face of the long-term, large-scale crisis, Ireland has become the ‘model’ vassal state for the creditor imperial states."

The above excerpts have all come from an article (published on May 31st, 2013) by James Petras who is a retired Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

More information about James Petras can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Petras

The full text of the the above mentioned May 31st, 2013 article can be viewed at:
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2013/05/...ive-f

Related Link:
"Money power psychopaths, government corruption, crime, cover ups, impunity, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/lk3qoq8

author by W. Finnertypublication date Thu Jun 06, 2013 18:23author address author phone

"A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success." 

'At the heart of the network, Hudes said, are 147 financial institutions and central banks — especially the Federal Reserve, which was created by Congress but is owned by essentially a cartel of private banks. “This is a story about how the international financial system was secretly gamed, mostly by central banks — they’re the ones we are talking about,” she explained. “The central bankers have been gaming the system. I would say that this is a power grab.”'

“This is like crooks trying to figure out where they can go hide. It’s a mafia,” she said. “These culprits that have grabbed all this economic power have succeeded in infiltrating both sides of the issue, so you will find people who are supposedly trying to fight corruption who are just there to spread disinformation and as a placeholder to trip up anybody who manages to get their act together.… Those thugs think that if they can keep the world ignorant, they can bleed it longer.”

All of the above excerpts are from an article dated 22nd May 2013 at the following www location:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/15...serve

Related E-mail and REGISTERED LETTER dated May 9th 2008:
(To former Prime Minister Brian Cowan TD and with e-mail copied to present Prime Minister Enda Kenny TD)
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/PrimeMinisterCowen/9M...l.htm

Related Link:
"Prime Minister Brian Cowan, Enda Kenny TD, Banksters, government corruption, crime, cover ups, and impunity ...
http://tinyurl.com/khzb93z


http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103541

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