Carrickmines dispute back in court

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday February 10, 2003 11:25 by Alison Healy

from the Irish Times

Carrickmines dispute back in court
By Alison Healy

The row over archaeological excavations at Carrickmines Castle in south Dublin will continue today when an application will be made to the High Court for an order restraining Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from removing 10 metres of a walled ditch from the site.

The council plans to remove the ditch before beginning construction work on the South Eastern Motorway at the medieval site.

Mr Dominick Dunne and Mr Gordon Lucas were granted leave on Wednesday to notify the council of their plan to seek an interlocutory injunction. This followed the securing of an interlocutory injunction by the council on Monday restraining people from trespassing on the site.

The injunction named Mr Lucas as well as Mr Vincent Salafia and brought an end to the five-month sit-in at the site by a group calling itself the "Carrickminders".

It had been attempting to stall construction work until the road route was altered to avoid the site.

It is now over a year since public controversy began over the construction of the road through part of the site.

In January 2002, The Irish Times published an article detailing the extensive archaeological discoveries at the medieval site. The director of the dig, Dr Mark Clinton, said if the remains of the castle lay on a greenfield site anywhere else he had no doubt they would be preserved as a national monument.

He declined to expand on those views and directed queries to the consultant archaeologists.

However, documents just released under the Freedom of Information Act show Dr Clinton's views on the significance of the site. In correspondence to Dúchas, the Heritage Service, last May, Dr Clinton wrote that the castle was of "major national and, indeed, international importance".

He had expressed concerns to Dúchas about the loss of archaeological information and material if an early finish date was imposed on the dig. The two-year dig ended last August, but a small team of archaeologists continued to work on the site up until last month.

Dr Clinton pointed out that the excavation was the largest castle excavation in Ireland's history.

"The only excavation to even approach it in terms of size was that of King John's castle in Limerick city . . . it is also worth noting that it was felt appropriate to preserve the archaeological remains in King John's castle in conjunction with the interpretative centre now established there."

He said the castle had another dimension in that it represented 400 years of changing fortification styles, including a possible Norman ring-work castle, a late 13th-century gatehouse and a probable 14th-century refortification.

"It is of interest not only to archaeologists but historians, historical geographers and students of the Angevin Empire, which stretched from Ireland to Sicily," Dr Clinton wrote.

"The questions it can answer provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for archaeologists and historians alike, not just in Ireland, but also in Britain, the Continent and North America."

Since the controversy began, Carrickmines Castle has become the subject of complaints to An Bord Pleanála, the European Parliament and the European Commission. The Flood tribunal is also examining the rezoning of Jackson Way lands at Carrickmines.