Corruption Watch at Tara - Lets do some digging of our own
meath |
history and heritage |
news report 
Monday April 24, 2006 11:24
by watcher - http://www.tarawatch.org
New revelations about corruption in NRA contractors only add to the growing pong at Tara
Yesterday, April 23, '06, the Sunday Times ran a story about corruption in a multinational engineering company called JE Jacobs that was recently awarded the N6 roads contract in Galway. Two company members were convicted in Chicago last year of illegal bidding and trading of insider information on construction contracts.
In the article the Times referred to "Jacobs’ Irish arm", (presumably for legal reasons) which is Jacobs Engineering Ireland. TaraWatch has learned the new head of the NRA Fred Barry was a director with Jacobs when he was hired last year.
Everybody knows the construction industry is corrupt, the archaeological profession is corrupt and of course the property development/rezoning industry is rank. Everybody knows there is more to the story as to why the M3 goes where it goes, and will not be moved unless it is forced. It is time Irish citizens put their heads together and figured this one out, before it is too late.
There are already many strong indications as to who and what is involved. Lat year we all saw Tommy 'Pots 'n Pans' Reilly, the Fianna Fail by-election candidate in Meath, get pulled from the race because he had bought land with Frank Dunlop in the Tara Skryne Valley. Then there was the Ireland on Sunday investigation into the owner of land at the Blundelstown interchange, Cathal McCarthy, and other 'friends of Fianna Fail', printed below.
Let's start putting the pieces together. TaraWatch is beginning a 'Land Registry Fund' to do a complete serach of land ownership in the Tara Skryne Valley. But that is only the beginning. Let's do some communal research and see what we can excavate from the muck of Meath.
NRA CONTRACTS
Company awarded N6 contract caught in corruption probe
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2148007,00....html
The Sunday Times
April 23, 2006
Enda Leahy
THE parent company of an Irish construction firm awarded a €100m contract to build a section of the Dublin-Galway road was investigated for contract bid fixing and corruption, it has emerged.
Two employees of Jacobs Engineering, a multinational construction company, were convicted last year in America for their role in obtaining confidential details of competitors’ bids for an $800m (€650m) building project. During the trial it was alleged that Jacobs’ employees got inside information about rival bids for a convention centre in Chicago from a lobbying company it was paying. It subsequently won the contract, worth $11.5m (€9m), after reducing its estimate by more than one-third.
Last week Jacobs’ Irish arm, which lists American and Canadian-based directors on its accounts, was awarded the tender to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a 20km stretch of road on the N6 between Ballinasloe and Athlone. The National Roads Authority (NRA), one of the bodies that awarded the contract, said it was unaware of the corruption investigation, conducted by the US attorney’s office. It said the tendering process it adopts is rigorously checked and all candidates are vetted for their ability to successfully and efficiently carry out a contract. There is no suggestion of any impropriety in relation to the N6 tender.
Jacobs has been operating in Ireland since 1974. The Irish company’s immediate controlling firm is Jacobs Engineering Espana SL, but the company’s ultimate parent is Jacobs Engineering Group Inc in America. Last year James Nagle and Elizabeth Koski, former employees of the American-based company, were sentenced to five years’ probation, given a $4,000 (€3,250) fine and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for their role in the Chicago scandal.
Nagle, who was the Chicago office manager and the company’s chief operations manager in charge of obtaining the contract to expand the Chicago Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McPier) building, said senior staff throughout the company were also aware of secretly obtained information relating to their competitors’ bids for the deal. The company initially submitted a bid of $18.8m (€15.2m) but dropped it by $7.3m (€5.9m) to win the contract. This was after Nagle received inside information about a rival’s bid from Ronan Potts LLC, a lobbying firm.
In documents filed by the US attorney’s office, Nagle claimed the decision to reduce the bid was taken at an internal meeting of Jacobs personnel brought in from throughout America. The documents alleged: “At no point . . . did any Jacobs official object to having the information. To the contrary, the information was discussed in a routine manner throughout the process by [Nagle’s] supervisory panel.” In the months after the case, a Chicago schoolboard sued the company to recover $28m (€22.7m) after Jacobs’ renovations of three local high schools came in over budget.
Last week, inquiries to Jacobs in Ireland were passed to spokespeople in Scotland and America who refused to comment other than to say Nagle and Koski had been fired, and that winning the Galway contract was a success. The project, with a value of approximately €100m excluding land costs, is scheduled for completion in 2009. Jacobs is also designing a stretch of the N6 from Kinnegad and Kilbeggan after winning another tender last September.
The NRA said: “There are background checks in the tender process, but if any civil or criminal action has been taken against an organisation, particularly where there is a finding and they’ve been to trial and paid their dues, they would not be excluded from contractual contests.”
Jacobs engineering case puts past contracts under scrutiny
Los Angeles Business Journal,
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_13_2...15025
Jacobs Engineering Gets Ireland Contract
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8GTPSHG0....an=db
Road deal with Jacobs
http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/7081.html
National Roads Authority Appoints New Chief Executive - NRA Press Release 12th January, 2005
http://www.nra.ie/News/PressReleases/2005/htmltext,1323....html
"Mr. Barry (53) is currently Managing Director of Jacobs Engineering Ireland Ltd. from where he brings extensive experience in the design and construction of private and public sector projects both in Ireland and in a number of international locations."
New roads boss appointed on €300,000 salary package
Sunday Independent
Thu, Jan 13 05
A NEW chief executive has been appointed to the National Roads Authority (NRA) on a salary package in the region of €250,000 a year plus a performance bonus of 50pc, writes Treacy Hogan. Fred Barry (53), currently managing director of Jacobs Engineering Ireland Ltd, takes over in the top job from next April.
In a statement yesterday Peter Malone, NRA chairman said the appointment underlined its commitment to deliver on the Government’s ambitious development programme creating a spine of high quality national routes. “Fred will lead the NRA team in delivering on this mandate with an investment of up to €10bn over the next five years, through a combination of the public purse and private investment, to developing an efficient and safe national network of motorway and main roads,” he said./a>
The new chief executive is a civil engineering graduate of UCD and worked in construction projects in Canada and Nigeria before joining Jacobs Engineering in Dublin in 1980. Mr Barry also worked for Jacobs in the UK and the US. He succeeds Mr Michael Tobin.
=====================
BLUNDELSTOWN INTERCHANGE
Tara Tycoons – political cronies poised to make fortunes
John Lee, political correspondent, Ireland on Sunday
2005-10-09
Major developers who are also financial backers of Fianna Fáil stand to make millions from the controversial M3 motorway which conservationists say will destroy the historic Hill of Tara.
A company controlled by multi-millionaire builder Joseph Murphy Jr – whose main business, JMSE, was exposed as corrupt the Flood tribunal – owns valuable lands along the route.
So too does multi-millionaire Fianna Fáil backer Cathal McCarthy, formerly a business partner of Frank Dunlop, the corrupt former government press secretary, and of Des Richardson, a close friend of the Taoiseach.
Both Mr Murphy and Mr McCarthy stand to make millions from the sale of land needed for the motorway – which campaigners say will destroy some of our most important archaeological sites – and for the construction of intersections.
But Mr Murphy, in particular, stands to make even more substantial profits from the hundreds of acres of land which he owns within a few miles of the motorway route and which may well be opened up for development once construction is completed.
Support for the M3 route formed a major part of the Fianna Fáil campaign in Friday’s by-election – even though archaeologists and ecological activists have compared it to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and insist that it should be preserved.
Mr Murphy faces an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau after playing a central role in the Flood/Mahon Tribunal into planning corruption. Mr Murphy and Frank Reynolds, the former managing director of JMSE who was also condemned by Mr Justice Fergus Flood, are beneficial directors of Newland Properties Ltd with an address at Ashley House, Batterstown, Co
Meath.
Newland Properties owns 26 acres in Roestown, Ratoath, Co Meath, of which five-and-a-half acres are subject to compulsory purchase by Meath County Council for construction of the M3.
But in recent years, Newland Properties has bought up more than 130 acres in nearby Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and ther parts of south Meath near the proposed route.
Though the CPO on the five-and-half acres is expected to net the company about €5m, the real potential for profit is in its other properties beside and near the M3 route. Inevitably, there will be pressure to rezone this land for housing and industrial development – a move that would bring in millions more for the two building magnates, according to property experts.
Frank Reynolds said the company owned more than 100 acres “if you take in Dublin and other places”. “I think if you ask anybody whose land will be affected by the M3 or N2, they would say they’d rather have the land. I wouldn’t say I’d make a killing on it. You can’t do much with land that has a road running through it”, said Mr Reynolds.“I don’t know if you can do much with it building-wise as people don’t want to live by a motorway”.
Land Registry documents show that Newland Properties also has a massive land portfolio in Dublin. JMSE has made huge financial contributions to Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.
Tribunal star James Gogarty, when accompanying Joseph Murphy and another corrupt building tycoon, Mick Bailey, to a 1989 meeting with now jailed ex-minister Ray Burke to make a corrupt €30,000 contribution, innocently asked: “Will we get a receipt?”
“Will we f***,” was the reply.
Cathal McCarthy, meanwhile, has made millions from the development of Navan town centre in partnership with another rich developer, Gerry Duignan. IoS has seen files that show Mr McCarthy owns 12 acres at the most controversial interchange on the motorway – right beside the Hill of Tara, ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
An additional 200-acre landback beside the interchange site was transferred to the name of Mr McCarthy since April 2004. The land is highly valuable given its proximity to the interchange and the M3. Opponents of the current route of the new motorway argue that the 29-acre, floodlit interchange will damage the Hill of Tara.
It has also been learned that in 1999, Mr McCarthy and Mr Duignan – registered with the Public Offices Commission as Duignan & McCarthy, PO Box 44, Navan, Co Meath – contributed £30,500 to Fianna Fáil. The contributions are listed as ‘£2,500 for attendance at a fundraiser, £3,000 for attendance at a fundraiser and £25,000 for attendance at a fundraiser’.
JMSE Managing Director begins evidence to Flood Tribunal
http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0125/flood.html
Flood `obstructers'to face massive legal bills - Sunday Business Post
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/05/11/story906...5.asp
The Third Interim Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/2004/planning/...t.pdf -
===========
TOMMY REILLY / FRANK DUNLOP
Tommy 'Pots and Pans' Reilly and Frank Dunlop Made Land Deal in Tara/Skryne Valley
It has emerged that Tommy Reilly, chairman of Meath Chamber of Commerce and a Fianna Fail candidate in the forthcoming Meath by-election, bought between 10 and 11 acres of land in the Tara/Skryne Valley in or around 1997 for between £90,000 and £100,000 punts, acording to the disgraced lobbyist Mr. Frank Dunlop.
Mr Reilly is a vocal suporter of the proposed M3 motorway through the Tara/Skryne Valley and has made public statements in regard to the Hill of Tara which equate the heritage value of the site to a few, "pots and pans".
Mr Dunlop also confirmed yesterday that he has known Mr. Reilly for between 25 and 30 years.
Mr. Dunlop was a key witness in the Flood Tribunal and has told the Tribunal that he maintained a "stash of cash" in a "war chest" in an AIB branch at Rathfarnham Road in Dublin and, from this stash of money, made payments to politicians in respect of planning decisions.
Mr Dunlop said yesterday that, "We did not have any great intentions for it. It is not near where you would be expecting any development to be taking place".
Mr Reilly told the Irish Times on 18/1/05 that, "everything was legal and above board" in relation to the purchase in the townland of Edoxtown near Skryne, County Meath.
Below you will find a detailed map of the Tara/Skyrne vallery. The proposed route of the M3 is highlighted in solid red. The townland of Edoxtown, where Reilly and Dunlop have their parcel of land, is circled in solid blue. [http://www.apollogallery.ie/newsitem.shtml?id=311&start...ge=10] You will note that there is a Promontoary Fort near the lands. That fort, one of the outer defensive forts to Tara, disappeared in recent years and there is nothing there now only a flat field.
Source: The Irish Times,
Date: 19/1/04,
Page: 6
Title: "Party to check FF candidate's land deal"
Author: Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, The Irish Times.
Reilly withdraws as candidate for by-election - RTE News
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0131/byelection.html
Fianna Fail and Dunlop-linked land deal 5km from Hill of Tara under scrutiny
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68295
Blundelstown Interchange. Over 50 acres. Land owned by Cathal McCarthy
Comments (19 of 19)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Great collection of articles, but ... I know I know, we're all busy, ... but is there any chance you could get a map of the M3 and just mark in the bits of land that all these developer/FiannaFail types own. And when you're at it, put in the other proposed routes which were rejected. One of those other proposed routes of course being the one that was straighter and cheaper to build that the current proposed route.
The maps on the TaraWatch website are not currently clear enough as to which route is which.... [if you have time, would be great].
The NRA behave in a typical neoliberalist mindset, a, to-hell-with-democracy-WTO-type of a fashion in that they do not have to publish detailed reasons for their decision.
It’s repugnant the NRA are so infused with hubris that could say: “There are background checks in the tender process, but if any civil or criminal action has been taken against an organisation, particularly where there is a finding and they’ve been to trial and paid their dues, they would not be excluded from contractual contests.” So while an ex-con couldn’t be expected to get a job working in a responsible position at Jacobs Engineering, at the same time, these same people who screwed "a Chicago schoolboard" for €22.7m , and whose “office manager and the company’s chief operations manager” were found guilty in a US court of illegally obtaining rival tender bidders information, it’s OK for them to be trusted with our public money to carry out road building.
Don't like saying it, but this kind of shit makes me want to shoot something.
Thanks for the interesting and constructive comment. A map showing the landholdings is exactly what is needed, and we will get working on it ASAP.
BTW, this material was posted on politics.ie but obviously wasn't welcomed by the site owner:
'Corruption in the NRA? More to the story at Tara?'
http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=11577
Cheers
Jacobs Engineering Profit Rises
By TSC and IRIS Staff
4/25/2006 6:58 AM EDT
Engineering and construction services company Jacobs Engineering (JEC:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) said second-quarter earnings rose 59.9% from a year ago.
The company earned $44.5 million, or 74 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $27.8 million, or 48 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for stock option expenses, Jacobs earned 78 cents a share in the latest quarter as against analysts' expectation of 73 cents a share. Revenue rose 32.5% to $1.83 billion. According to Thomson First Call, analysts had estimated revenue of $1.69 billion for the second quarter.
http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/stocks/general/102812...te=NA
An article on the Internet at the present time provides much detailed information regarding "Feis Teamhrach" (The Great Feast of Tara).
This information appears to come from a work titled "The Cabinet of Irish Literature, Volume 1, edited by Charles A. Read (1880)".
Why is it that so many leading Irish academics, archaeologists, journalists, and lawyers (involved in the major disputes arising in connection with the proposed M3 toll road through the Tara / Skreen Valley) appear to still be completely unaware of this crucially important information?
The following piece of text comes from the above mentioned article:
"This illustrious assembly was called by the name of Feis Teamhrach, which signifies a general meeting of the nobility, gentry, priests, historians, and men of learning, and distinguished by their abilities in all arts and professions: they met by a royal summons, in a parliamentary manner, once every three years, at the palace of Tara, to debate upon the most important concerns of state; where they enacted new laws, and repealed such as were useless and burthensome to the subject, and consulted nothing but the public benefit in all their resolutions."
The full text of the article, which is much longer than the relatively short piece provided above, is titled: "The Parliament of Tara, by Geoffrey Keating", and can be seen at:
http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/TaraKeatingCIL/i...x.php
The Insider - Labour (Is it Labour party or the ex-Stickies that is talking).
I agree with you to a point apart from the Gun but as you only wrote one line, i sense I am writing back to a genius. You remind of Yeat's poem line ending 'Horseman Ride by' now it is Bertie rides by with the briefcase and the big lie and I am asking why?
Could you clarify your line, minus the Gun.
As you are Labour you will already know Roger Rabit expelled Mary Coughlan from his school, for wearing pink socks.
Now I beg the question, is this the next Tanaiste? No.... Because Lady Wicklow (Liz McManus) whose husband a GP earns euros 600,000 on medical car partients last year......
Could you explain to me as Labour Representative minus the Gun?
Let's go Psychology now......especially given the personalised indepth focus of the Irish Independent in its appraisal of our Taoiseach, Mr. Ahern.
Quotaton:
Fr. John Powell US, Jesuit
'Why am I afraid to tell you who I am?
Reply:
'Because if you tell who I am you might not like who I am
And That is All that I have???
You may gain further insights from Opus Dei and the Columban Fathers, who you all know doubt are aware of.
Eamo and Rupert arrive at the hospital for their vasectomies.The nurse approaches Eamo, opens his fly and proceeds to give him a wank. Surprised, Eamo ask her what she is doing, she says I have to get all the spunk out before we can continue with the procedure.
She then approaches Rupert, opens his fly and proceeds to give him a blow job. Slightly irked Eamo asks her why he only got a wank to which she replies
" thats the difference between the VHI and a Medical Card"
This sums up life in Ireland today. The purpose of the working and middle classes is to generate and maintain the wealth of the upper classes. 90% of the wealth of this country is in the hands of 15% of the population, the rest of us, 85% has to share the remaining 10% from which the government makes us pay for everything including the needs of the wealthy.
Ernst
It is worth going back and reading the original thread here in view of the information that is dripping out about Bertie's associates.
We know that McCarthy owns land on the M3 at the interchange because he made a planning application recently. Look at Frank Connolly's latest on The Village website, there is a breaking news story there about Manchester but look who turns up again, Richardson this time connected to none other than the late Liam Lawlor.
The M3 stinks to high heaven now, it always did but the stink is now close to unbearable. But us locals always knew that.
Assuming, as seems to be the case, that the Hill of Tara was the Bronze Age Hill of Parliament (see "M3 Spotter" posting above), is it just a coincidence that the N6 toll road has been scheduled to go through Knocknadala (which literally means "Hill of Parliament" in the Celtic language) in County Galway?
There is strong and rapidly growing evidence to suggest that Knocknadala was Ireland's Iron Age Hill of Parliament, and it is located within a few hundred yards of the world famous Turoe Stone - which is considered by many to be the most important piece of Celtic stone art in the world. (Both the Turoe Stone and Knocknadala almost sit on top of the Esker Riada - which is possibly the oldest and most historic road in the world, and which is still in use today - some 10,000 years or so after its formation.)
General information on Turoe and Knocknadala can be found via the following link:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Turoe+and+Knoc...earch
Much more detailed information on Turoe & Knocknadala, which has EXTREMELY important implications for Tara, can now be found in Tom O'Connor's recent book titled: "Hand of History - Burden of Pseudo-History: Touchstone of Truth") - please see: http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=6457
Keeping in mind that the extremely wealthy and influential "Trilateral, Bilderberg & Bohemian Group" who are at present trying their hardest to bully and bomb everyone into accepting their "NEW WORLD ORDER" plan, apparently want (and need as they see it) to get rid of sovereign states (and their written constitutions), might there also be a very closely associated plan to get rid of the HERITAGE of soverign states as well?
"Kill two birds with the one stone"?
Make "loads-a-money" building and operating toll roads, and, at the same time, smash what are possibly Ireland's two most important heritage complexes to smithereens as well?
As those who have studied the subject will know, "Illuminati" forms of scheming, skulduggery, corruption, violence, lawlessness, lying, bullying, criminalising, killing, and so on, appear to have no limits or boundaries of any kind, and they operate on a global, 24/7 basis - which is possibly why those who know about them seem to be so concerned about the growing threat they now pose for so many people. For further information on the subject of Illuminati corruption please see:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Illuminati+Corruption&bt...earch
Very far back in this thread there was a request for the routes etc to be outlined. I'm not sure if anyone did.
Here are the maps.
There was also a request for a list of the landowners in the area. I cannot do that, there is need for a good investigative reporter to carry out this work.
I would direct people again to the articles from Ireland on Sunday (March 2005) where the landowners were mentioned. I have posted this information here on a number of occasions.
NRA original routes
Chosen route with sites marked (NRA)
The route with archaeological sites
Is hte pink one right.
The three pieces of text listed below have all been taken from an e-mail sent earlier today (by me) to a transnational selection of groups and individuals who have an interest in protecting ancient heritage sites.
The full text of the e-mail referred to in the paragraph above can now be viewed at the following location:
http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.co...l.htm
The three pieces of text in question are:
1) "It is also the case that I now believe Minister for Justice McDowell TD should - if right was right, or even half-right - be securely locked up in jail: where he can be prevented from causing the people of Ireland any further damage, particularly in regard to the way he seems to me to be knowingly and blatantly violating the Constitution of Ireland (with impunity) for the past several years."
2) "I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that so many Irish people still know nothing whatsoever about this amazing Bronze Age "Equinox Detector", and the fact that there is "hard" historical and archaeological evidence which links it directly to the Hill of Tara, and Brehon Law, via King Ollamh Fodhla. As far as I know, there is nothing remotely like this very ancient set of stone arrangements anywhere else in the world - at least nothing that still works in the very obvious and accurate way that Cairn T does. Which all leaves me wondering: Why are the Cairn T, King Ollamh Fodhla, and Brehon Law links, still being COMPLETELY ignored by so many "Save Tara" activists?
3) "Allowing for the 14 months (or so) old contents of the http://www.kingollamhfodhla.com/ web site, someone, or some group of VERY influential people more like, must (?) be playing some VERY nasty, very powerful, and very secretive games methinks? Could the hand of the Bilderberg type "Illuminati" (& Associates) be in any way involved in all of this I wonder? It's a thought that might just be worth thinking about maybe?"
Noel Dempseys involvement in this shamefull scandal is not to be underestimated. He was Minister of the enviornment at the time and allowed it to go through the oldest manmade complex in the World. Why?
His brother is in partnership with Raymond Potterton Estate agent and both of their names have been connected to land deals in the past through their joint directorship of a company called Eracase. It is probably just a coincidence that Potterton was placed on the board of directors of the NRA by Noel Dempsey himself. It is probably a coincidence too that Dempsey is now Minister of Transport so he can finish off the destruction of the Irish Nations Heritage in order to satisfy his evil lust for money. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye.
If anyone has anymore information concerning corruption at Tara could they please post it here. We need to expose these greedy self servers publicly.
I am very disapointed to learn that all those who were very quick to jump on any thread pertaining to Tara are conspicous in their silence. Where are all the friends of Tara? How come you are so silent when it comes to the nitty gritty of potential law suits and liables?
What does Siobhan expect from the public here?
Tarawatch and HillofTara were set up specifically to take care of legal matters. But i wonder in the case of the previous settlement with the state can another case be taken by members of this group?
The last articles on the connections between the developers and the present route were published in 2005 and they are here somewhere. I'm sure that Siobhan can access them. Good as they were there has been no follow up.
There have been no further articles on any possible corruption and surely if it were obvious journalists would have published. Or have they been silenced as well. Is it now up to the ordinary citizen to take action.
Has anyone looked at the land registry? Perhaps that should be done now? Perhaps Siobhan and Tarawatch should look in that direction.
And by the way what are "liables"?
A further attempt was made yesterday to challenge all the political, legal, and corporate corruption which continues to thrive in our midst.
Yesterday's attempt took the form of an e-mail to Mr. John Gormley TD (Green Party Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government); and, it was copied to several other people - including a number of senior journalists, politicians, and lawyers.
My hope is that Minister Gormley (and all of his Green Party colleagues and supporters) will use the information contained in my e-mail to him of yesterday as a "lever" and/or "hose-pipe" (of sorts) - for the purpose of trying to flush-out and purge the Republic of Ireland of its unenviable "Culture of Corruption" reputation - a title it very much deserves at the present time (in my view).
For anybody interested, a copy of the yesterday's e-mail (addressed primarily to Minister Gormley TD) can now be viewed at http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.co...l.htm .
In an effort to make it as difficult as possible for any of the addressees of yesterday's e-mail to later claim they never received it, and consequently know nothing about it, the Yahoo generated "internet tracking and message identification" information has been included in the copy now on view at the above address.
Good work guys. Our culture is being systematically eroded and the populace sits idly by.
Take note that the site of the Battle Of Aughrim is going to have a motoerway right through it.
Aughrim was the largest battle ever fought in Ireland but it's not commemorated here because of the association with the Unionist Community in the North. They however prefer to commemorate the 12th July date for the Battle of the Boyne because it's presented that the Gaelic army acted cowardly whereas at Aughrim they fought gallantly.
Thus, for the usual sectarianism [on both sides] an important piece of Irish history is practically condemned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aughrim
In addition to damaging the battleground at Aughrim, the planned N6 will also (if it goes ahead) severely damage and demean the Hill of Turoe some 20 or so miles to the west (of Aughrim).
"This book presents a Celtic Royal complex, unprecedented in Ireland for its size and layout, but similar to Belgic Centres of Power, called oppida by Caesar, in SE England and on the Continent. It was centered on Turoe in Co. Galway, site of the famous Turoe Stone. No one has satisfactorily explained why this finest example of La Tene Celtic stone art in all of Europe was set on the summit of Turoe hill (Cnoc Temhro) in the wilds of the West of Ireland. Here its hitherto unrecognised Celtic Royal Sanctuary trappings at the centre of a vast Belgic-like oppidum defensive system of linear embankments and its surprising connection with the Celtic invasion of Ireland are unfolded." (this text taken from http://www.handofhistory.com/ )
An e-mail was sent last Friday (i.e. July 13th 2007) Brian Lenihan TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
In an effort to draw attention to the corruption problem discussed on this Indymedia thread, the e-mail was titled:
"Hill of Tara, Mountain of Corruption ..."
The full text of last Friday's e-mail, which was copied to several other senior lawyers and politicians, can be viewed at the following address: http://www.europeancourtofhumanrightswilliamfinnerty.co...l.htm .
As can be seen at the above location, former President Mary Robinson (Republic of Ireland) was included among the addressees.
"Now based in New York, Mary Robinson is currently leading a new project, the Ethical Globalization Initiative (EGI). Its goal is to bring the norms and standards of human rights into the globalization process ..." (The full text of this EGI article can be read at http://www.realizingrights.org/index.php?option=content...id=75 )
Unfortunately, it seems Mary Robinson is at present focussing her attention and efforts on Africa (according to the above report). Nevertheless, it is hoped that she might spare a few moments of her time thinking about Ireland, and the human rights abuses connected with the Hill of Tara situation.
Personally, I believe that wilfully destroying peoples' archaeological heritage, especially when it involves a primary site like the Hill of Tara, is an extremely serious violation of human rights.
What, for example, could be more demeaning to the memory and appreciation of our ancient ancestors, and the direct blood-line (and potent genetic links) so many of us will undoubtedly have with them?
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