Save the Tara/Skreen Valley!

international | environment | press release

Tuesday September 09, 2003 20:06

by Vincent Salafia - Save the Tara/Skreen Valley

vsalafia at eircom dot net

Dublin

(087) 132-3365

Meath Councillors and TDs Invited to Public Meeting, Thursday, 12th September at St Columba’s Missio

The new group formed over the weekend, ‘Save the Tara/Skreen Valley’(STSV), are having a public meeting on Thursday, 12th September at the St Columba’s Mission, Dalgan Park, outside Navan.

PRESS RELEASE

SAVE THE TARA/SKREEN VALLEY

9 September 2003

“Meath Councillors and TDs Invited to Public Meeting, Thursday, 12th September at St Columba’s Mission, Dalgan Park, to Discuss N3 Plans”

The new group formed over the weekend, ‘Save the Tara/Skreen Valley’(STSV), are having a public meeting on Thursday, 12th September at the St Columba’s Mission, Dalgan Park, outside Navan.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Invited guests include local councillors, TDs, as well as national representatives of various political parties, local residents and action groups.

Currently STSV includes members of groups such as The Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, The Bellinter Residents Association, The Navan Chamber of Commerce, St Columbas’, Carrickminders and Friends of Tara.

The meeting will address possible options, which include:

- Judicial Review of the recent An Bord Pleanala decision;
- a legal challenge under the National Monuments Act;
- a legal challenge to the Environmental Impact Assessment, under European law;
- complaints to the European Commission and Petitions Committee
- lobbying for the Tara/Skreen Valley to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- calling on Martin Cullen, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to place a preservation order on the entire valley.

Vincent Salafia, (a member of Carrickminders, acting here in an individual capacity)
acting spokesperson for the group said:

“We will discuss all the options, and listen to all opinions, but there is little that will deter us from fighting this one to the last.”

“We have been criticized for not objecting sooner, but we trusted the public process, which has now concluded. Now that process must be tested, in light of the numerous abnormalities found, and the shocking result. For An Bord Pleanala to claim this is ‘sustainable development’ is simply outlandish”.

“If Dr Conor Newman of University College Galway, and the Discovery Programme, testified that this is “one of the most important archaeological sites in the world”, what could we possibly have added to that?”

“The NRA have defended the route on the basis that it is a few hundred metres further away from the Hill of Tara than the existing N3. The existing road was built by the English Government in the early 1800s, before there was a National Monuments Act, which caused extraordinary damage, and caused excessive noise pollution.

“The Government had a chance to repair the damage, by routing the road away from Tara, but instead they propose to spend millions of Irish and European taxpayers money destroying this International Monument, and a nearby nature reserve in Dalgan Park.

“Like Newgrange, monuments in the Tara/Skreen Valley were buried centuries ago, to protect them from pillaging raiders like these.

“Celebrating the launch of European Heritage Days at Glendalough, while quietly plotting the rape of Tara is a cynical new low for this regime.”

“We are going to be looking at alternatives, such as re-opening the Navan to Dublin rail line, which would ease the traffic problem greatly.

ENDS

Contact:

Vincent Salafia
Save the Tara/Skreen Valley Group
(01) 283-2880
(087) 132-3365
vsalafia@eircom.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taraskreen

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Comments (3 of 3)

In principle, I'm all for protecting monuments

by >>>>>Seáinín

Wed Sep 10, 2003 02:09

However, I'd like to know what the views are of the wider irish archaeological community, if there is such a thing.

I get the feeling the Carrickminders are at the extreme end of conservation. Is there anything actually down worth saving?

Well...

by The Insider

Wed Sep 10, 2003 10:23

Friends of Medieval Dublin, which is headed by a professor from TCD, says the Carrickmines remains are hugely significant.

Therefore, I'd say the Carrickminders are completely right, especially since all they're asking for is for the road to be realigned, not stopped altogether.

Of course it's important!!!!

by archaeologist

Wed Sep 10, 2003 18:46

This is Tara we're talking about. It's ludicrous that they are trying to build another road there. I was under the impression that Tara was a world heritage site, and if it isn't it should be.

The way our current government is acting, and given the recently emasculated state of Duchas, I genuinely feel that the more international protection our monuments have the better.

Martin Cullen acts like he's never heard of the National Monuments legislation, which is very good legislation if applied properly. His department inherited a good, if over worked, heritage service, and has pissed all over it.

Carrickmines notwithstanding, there is alot of good archaeological work done all over the country on a daily basis. But there is a sense always that you're working against the clock, not to say the engineers.

Look at all of this "sustainable development". Quarries in the Boyne Valley, roads all over the shop, housing estates destroying the character of towns and villages...the wider archaeological community spends all of its time trying to mitigate the effects of the bad planning decisions, Duchas spends all of its time trying to do the same, and how happy Martin Cullen would be if there were fewer of us around...

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Comments (3 of 3)