Blockade Of Bantry Bullies Continues.
cork |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report
Sunday July 09, 2006 22:16
by Niall Harnett - Bantry Solidarity Lodge / Gluaiseacht.
“The ESB are a despicable outfit”. So says Independent Cllr. Jim Lynch from Letterkenny, Co Donegal who stopped at a BCAG demo at Bantry Fair on Friday.
For the past 10 days or so, members of the Bantry Concerned Action Group and their supporters have been blockading the ESB Networks crew and their digger contractors from entering their lands and farms which are marked out for this proposed overhead powerline route which stretches from the 'Murnane & O'Shea Glanta Windfarm Development' at Colomane to the Ballylickey sub-station 14km away.
The ESB have been contracted by Murnane & O’Shea to construct this powerline to connect their wind farm development to the national grid. Murnane & O’Shea know that that the ESB have powers that they don’t have, namely the 1927 Electricity Supply Act which gives them ‘permission’ to enter and even break in through entrances to farms and lands etc “to do whatever we want and you can’t stop us” according to ESB’s Tim Flavin who‘s been described as ‘a pure tool’ by one member of the BCAG. Murnane & O’Shea are in the position where they can abuse the ESB powers to facilitate their private development under the guise of green energy production.
It’s an abuse of the 1927 Act and a business arrangement designed to make more millions for Murnane & O’Shea.
What Murnane & O’Shea and the ESB fail to comprehend is that they don’t have the permission of those who matter most in all this - the landowners - and until the BCAG give them their consent to come in on the land, the ESB will NOT do ‘whatever they want’ and they can and will be stopped.
Meanwhile, Murnane & O’Shea who have remained tight lipped in the shadows until now, straining at their own leashes and letting the ESB do their dirty work for them, have revealed themselves in a recent ‘issue of legal proceedings’ seeking damages, costs and permanent injunctions against 23 of the landowners and ANYONE ELSE WHO INTERFERES OR EVEN WATCHES this ‘overland cable’ project! BCAG members Tadhg Coughlan and Susan Kingston face a separate ESB application for an injunction against them tomorrow Monday 9th at the high court in Dublin at 11.00am.
Bantry Bullies - Murnane & O’Shea and the ESB.
It’s been full on now for over ten days in Bantry and it doesn’t look like letting up this coming week either. Every morning at about 7.30 - 8.00 am the ESB show up with their contractors and machinery at any of several different points along this 14km stretch. While ESB Networks Manager Liam O’Sullivan tends to favour showing up at Joe Burke’s most mornings with a crew, there are other ESB ‘officials’ showing up with different crews at other farms and lands at the same time elsewhere. Some of them tend to gather at the ‘Tralibane’ picnic spot where you can see out over the valleys and hills where they want to erect the pylons and double ‘T’ poles. Inevitably they are spotted by any one of the BCAG who live along the route and within minutes after a few phone calls there are numbers arriving to blockade them and ensure that no digger manages to drive off it’s truck and into someone’s land. Most, if not all of the entrances to farms and land have been blocked with farm machinery and tractors etc since last week. But that’s no guarantee that the ESB won’t use the arm of a digger to turn over and remove any machinery that’s in their way.
Last Tuesday a digger got into a field unnoticed and started to dig a hole for the poles. Our friend Róisín Fagan, a young mother aged 23 who’s staying at the solidarity lodge, stood in the hole he was digging and asked the driver if he had permission to be in the field. The driver swung the arm of the digger out to Róisín’s side and then he swung it back in at her, just missing her as she jumped out of the way. Róisín who has a heart condition went into shock and was brought to hospital before making a statement of complaint to sympathetic Gardaí the next day. The digger guy claimed to see no evil, hear no evil or speak no evil. Róisín was pretty shook but all this has just strengthened her resolve to see the ESB off.
We’ve seen many different diggers, trucks and personalities come and go over the 10 days. Some new ‘officials’ have arrived on the scene to ‘manage’ proceedings at different sites along the route. While Liam O’Sullivan is busy at one spot ‘refusing to communicate whatsoever’ and threatening to report those who ask him questions to the Gardaí for harassment, his other ‘officials’ are taking similar stances throughout the countryside and showing great example in keeping to word of the ‘ESB Corporate Social Responsibility Report’ which promises ‘open communication in relation to the concerns of local communities’. See here for a laugh: http://www.esb.ie/main/downloads/about_esb/corporate_so...y.pdf
Media interest in the blockade is growing as is local support. The numbers on the ground are growing too in terms of both the campaign and physical support. Local activists and some experienced campaigners such as Quentin Gargan and Clare Watson are joining forces with the BCAG and the solidarity crew and a real campaign is growing. A nice demo on Friday at the fair in Bantry Square saw a lot of interest in what was going on and some more offers of support from local people. Caravans are being offered to guard the land overnight too.
The suspicion is that the ESB will want to start work earlier and earlier in the day from before dawn and bring in more digger contractors to assault many more spots at the one time. This places huge demands on local residents who need to be ever watchful and available to man the blockades. It’s hard fuckin’ work lads and lassies and they need more support big time. For anyone who can come and lend a hand, please come to the The Bantry Solidarity Camp & Lodge: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77026
Camp Contacts: Caton 085 7662476 & Róisín 086 1043528
PRESS CONFERENCE at Joe Burke’s farm tomorrow Monday 9th at 10am with Kathy Sinnott MEP, details here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77129
Contact Quentin Gargan / Clare Watson at 027 52773 / 086 869 3140 for comment or verification.
Wexford ICSA - Irish Cattle & Sheepfarmers Association members travel to Burke’s farm to support the blockade.
Garda Inspector Tony Sugrue clarifying ‘garda jurisdiction‘.
High court discussion meeting with Tadhg and Susan (left of pic) at the solidarity lodge.
Bantry Fair Maids say it all.
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29All pics are COPYLEFT if used in full and NOT CROPPED or ALTERED!
The blockade continues.
Kathleen & Claire O’Sullivan at Tralibane and their land just a stone’s throw away.
Stopping the digger in it’s tracks.
One of Murnane’s trucks obstructed by the ESB road-block.
No let-up at the farm of Joe Burke, chairman of the Bantry Concerned Action Group.
Communications ...
Joe chats with a local Garda.
Francis Hourihan explaining some facts about his instructions to protect his uncle’s land.
More chats.
Caton’s proving to be something of a hit with the ladies.
And the ‘Bantry Bullies’ flyer is a big hit with the locals.
... And Meetings ...
Meeting in the hills
Yep, chemistry there allright … feel the love!
Plans …
strategy ...
... and the big 'D'.
... communication concepts that these 'Unidentified Fuckin' Eejits' seem incapable of grasping.
“My role here is none of your business and I’ve no interest in talking to ye at all.”
More U.F.E’s
New guy on the right all in blue. “ I don’t have to tell you my name and I don’t have to tell you whether or not I’m working for the ESB.
These guys in suits didn’t even get out of their cars.
!
Fun at the fair with old friends ...
Look who it is !..
… at his book stall at the Bantry fair.
Perfect place …
... and new friends.
Join the dots lads - Bury The Powerlines.
Eoghan Harris drops by for a chat.
Jess our new friend (on the right) filling in a few friends on what’s happening.
More new friends, tidy dancer Meave and her dad John, with Carol.
Now we’re rockin’, look who’s here from the Rossport Solidarity Camp - Belle & Gwilym.
Diggers watch out when Róisín's about!
Until this: http://www.bantrypylonprotest.com the new Bantry Concerned Action Group website is up and running you can find protest and campaign info here below.
Protest locations.
Directions to the location of the Bantry Pylon Protest.
Bantry Farmers are blockading the entrances to their farms along a 14km stretch of scenic route around Bantry in opposition to high voltage powerlines which will extend from Colomane right through to Ballylicky, Bantry. Colomane which is approx 7 miles southeast of Bantry Town on the main Bantry to Cork road and is approx half way between Drimoleague and Bantry Town on the R586. A good landmark to watch out for in Colomane is Willie Pa’s pub which is situated on the left hand side of the road as you travel in the direction of Bantry. Turn right directly at this cross and you will pass Jimmy Barry Motors on your right. Continue along this road and after approx ½ mile you will meet the first of the farmers Pylon Protest/blockades. This road is an alternative route to Bantry Town and you will find a new blockade as you turn each bend on the road.
This forms only one part of the overall area affected by this overhead powerline as it stretchs cross-country to the scenic Ballylickey. The farm of Joe Burke, Chairman of the Bantry Concerned Action Group is located 3 miles along the Mealagh Valley Road.
To reach his farm you have to access it from the main Bantry to Glengarriff road. Approx 1.5 miles out of town travelling in the direction of Glengarriff, at an area known as Donemark, you will see just after Casey's Garage, a signpost on your righthand side for Murnane & O’Shea Ltd. Take this right turning and pass by the entrance to Murnane and O’Sheas Industrial Estate which you'll see on your right. Continue for approx a further 1.5 miles until you pass a white two storey farmhouse on your left hand side, quite high up off the road,and complete with a farmyard on your right-hand side. This is the home of Joe Burke and the scene of a further blockade.
A host of further blockades are dotted along minor roads which crisscross this landscape but which ultimately at various points connect up with the Mealagh Valley road to allow farmers to quickly reach one another in assisting as required.
Hello to all in Bantry we will be down to see you all very shortly. You're doing great work down there so keep it up. In this area from Ck on Shannon to Sooey in Co Sligo ESB are also attempting to build a power line (a 220kv line) and destroy our beautiful countryside as well. They have threatened us personally on 3 seperate occasions with High Court injunctions and costs to gain access to our lands - to no avail..( in Oct 2004, Jan and May 2005). 2 ESB reps (Jarlaith Doyle and Tom Duignan)came to our home on june 1st 2005 to look for access and were denied, on the same date they attempted to call on our neighbour who was extremely ill at the time( he went to hospital the following week and never came back and sadly passed away in Oct 2005 RIP) They were denied access but returned to us on June 21st 2005 ( 2 diff. reps)(escorted by 2 Boyle Guards) and had 2 jeeps full of workers and a lowloader and digger hidden further down the road. They claimed to be looking for access points but a crowd of about 60 neighbours friends and supporters were there to greet them and after my husband denied access, they walked down the footpath got into their car and drove off. They have not returned since and will be denied access if they do.
The ESB need a landowners signature (for a Deed of Easement) so they have full rights to use the land on which the pylons/poles are built..and they also need a 60m 'sterile corridor' THERE IS NO LAW IN IRELAND WHICH CAN MAKE YOU SIGN YOUR NAME FOR THEM, NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU SIGN AWAY YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY- so keep that in mind Joe and others...the ESB will bully ,threaten, turn up at your door ,seek HC orders but they cannot make you sign your name. But you must keep them off your land to avoid them creating a ' right to your property' Remember too that FBD Insurance now have an EMF exclusion clause in their farm policies and will not cover any other damage caused by High Voltage Lines on land - YOU the landowner may be responsible.
AMP (Against More Pylons/Alternative Means of Power), who represent many anti-pylon / pro-underground groups in the North West / Sligo / Leitrim / Roscommon area, are travelling to meet the EU commission in Brussels tomorrow to inform them of breaches of EU Law committed by the ESB and An Bord Pleanala in relation to a 56km 220kv overhead powerline project planned for that region.
Following that meeting in Brussels a number of cars from the region will be travelling to Bantry later this week to support the Bantry Blockades.
If you want or need a lift to Bantry this week, the AMP group have offered to pick up anyone close to or along their route of travel as they drive from the Northwest to Bantry, through Galway or Athlone to Limerick to Cork to Bantry.
Contact me for more details at 086 8444966.
More info about AMP here below. Similar link in previous comment not quite correct - it's .com not .org
Hello Niall and all at the Bantry Blockade. We had a very successful and interesting day at the EU Commission yesterday - the investigation into the EU breaches is ongoing and could have far reaching implications. A planning permission breach by the ESB here is also currently being investigated by the local Co Co. Yes we are very willing to offer lifts to anyone who may wish to travel with us from Northwest to South. We have just upgraded the website (in the last few days)hence the new address it is now :www.all-energy-matters-amp.org
Best wishes to all
Hi rosin,
Maybe you should take pictures of the digger opperator that tried to kill you and take him, his employer, and the ESB to court for attempted murder.
I think the captions beneath the photos and their innuendo is make light of a serious issue.
As I read the various articles on this site two things strike me. Firstly I sympathise with those who have genuine fears for their safety and those of their children. Secondly, however it seems to me that people are working themselves into a frenzy and jumping on the "protest" bandwagon whether they know the facts or not! While I am not an expert on the specific health risks referred to here, I wonder if those protesting are experts? Presumably the erection and operation of these power lines complies with all health and safety requirements? I am quite certain if they did not, then they would not be allowed to go ahead. Hence, on the almost certain premise that they comply with all relevant standards, why the protest? Protest for protests sake is not heroic or noble. It is simply providing an outlet for "rebels without a cause".
in reply to one sided;i dont think its fair to say"rebels without a cause" and that there is no health risk.Firstly i know that in my own case FBD insurance have withdrawn all EMF cover.Why do you think FBD are doing that?Have you ever got anything in writing from ESB telling you they will accept responsibility if anthing goes wrong? If a landowner takes compensation from ESB for overhead lines,the section on his / her insurance dealing with "duty of care towards visitors" takes on a whole new meaning. Maybe the IFA or FBD would like to come in at this point with a comment?
Also you ask the question;"why the protest"? the answer is simple;the people want the line placed underground,no more than that.Is that too much to ask while they are the ones providing the means for somebody else to carry on a business using their property and just remember nobody can form a business from trespass.
hey tim,
the main reason that most people protest is that they are against what ever is being tried to be done to them. I for one applaud any one who is willing to stand up to the big guns in this free state of ours. People have allways done this and are entitled to and are responsible for the safety of their children and should do what ever it takes to protect them.If their is a fear out there about PYLONS and OVER HEAD POWER LINES then people are right to protest. Quiet often state bodies and private individuals try this kind of wok which is often done without proper permission, proper safety measures and proper consultation with land owners. Tim, if you don't think the people of Bantry are right in what they are doing then you may be looking in from the wrong side of the fence. Good luck to the good people of BANTRY and any other locality that is standing up for what is right for their community.
I feel the need to write these comments about the silly protest in bantry by a shower of lay-abouts,if these people want to do some good for bantry they should do what Bob Murnane has done and get up off their arse and create employment and sponsor local events etc. Bantry would not be the town it is only for murnane and o shea
Greed is indeed a terrible thing - do you not realise it is pure and utter Greed that is driving both OShea/Murnane and the ESB to try and force private landowners to allow the building of dangerous overhead High Voltage lines on their lands and close to their homes. Now which 'lay abouts' are you writing about.? Is it the ones who SIT idly about at people's gates for over 12 hours a day waiting their chance to sneak onto peoples private property. (ie the ESBs contractors) You cant surely mean the people who have taken time out to assist the landowners in their battle against the private windfarm developers and the irish power monopoly who made €300 m profit in 2005, the company who go along to the energy regulator and ask for a 20% price increase anytime they feel like it, a company who use creosote (a banned product)on every pole they replace in this country (this creosote will be seeping into the ground /watercourses for the next 50-60 years and is considered highly carcinogenic), a company that would rather spend many years fighting with landowners knowing they won't win, rather than seeking a compromise that would be progressive and positive. The Bantry people arent the only ones battling with the ESB - there are similar situations going on all over Ireland which the ESB try to keep quiet. There are many similar battles in the pipeline for the ESB if they continue to try and trample all over people and take away their private property rights. How would Murnane and O Shea react if you walked into one of their many businesses and said you were setting out to destroy it and threaten their health into the bargain? I assume they would consider an Injunction to STOP you rather than have you threaten them with an Injunction? Think about it and then see if you'd like M and OS/ESB to come and knock on your door and tell you they are about to come in and destroy alot of what you own - for all time
Well said supporter 2, any company who make 240 millon euro profit in one year can easily put a few miles of cable underground .If the "layabouts" with the diggers who are sitting on their arses for the last month on the roadside outside bantry had started digging a trench from the windfarm site to substation four weeks ago they would have most of the work done by now.Who pays theese layabouts? I hope the taxpayer doesnt have to pick up the bill.
A short time ago I passed the ESB radio mast site at Ticknock in Cobh (there's a huge mast there carrying their communications antennas along with mobile phone aerials and one belonging to the gardai). I spotted no less than eleven (yes, 11) ESB vans lined along the road and in a new housing estate nearby.
I guess the person who will pick up the tab for the ESB contractors/layabouts resting on their diggers and vans outside privately owned lands and homes in Bantry will be the ESB customers and all of us who face a further 20% increase in Autumn. Who regulates the regulator? Who pays the regulator? ??
If anyone knows please let the rest of us know and also it would be good to know did the Eirgrid workers get their €40,000 to switch over from ESB Networks to Eirgrid (in other words to accept pay cheques with a different heading on top?) -virtually same company -different name.....What an easy way to make €40,000 - of course the ESB want a hassle free life - just pay them off - avoid nuisances. Did they sign confidentiality agreements?
Nice to see indymedia finally come to the rescue of property owners. Presumably when these self-same property owners want to keep ramblers off their lands you will all be supporting them as well.
Nice to see indymedia finally come to the rescue of property owners.
A few centimetres below, at the bottom of every page it states that: “Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland.
saw piece in paper lately where hill walkers took property owner (a farmer ) to the high court about an aledged right of way.The hill walkers lost the case because the judge said "if a right of way exists -it exists. If a right of way does NOT exist then it DOES NOT EXIST " When will people get to understand that private property is just that,PRIVATE PROPERTY. Nobody has right to walk on or over private property.People can walk on public property,in public parks,on public pathways and roadways,thats what they are there for.Private land including farmland is PRIVATE PROPERTY. I think Joe Burke and his neighbours have proved this by now,you simply cannot tram all over private property,if you do you are treaspassing. Well done to Bantry group for standing up to the bulling tactics of the esb and their sidekicks.Its time this came to a head,stop this bullying by esb and developers who use esb for their own gain.
To conclude,if the Bantry developer has so much influence in council to be able to build a hotel half way out on the road surely he can "get" permission from same council to bury a little cable along the side of the road?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0728/esb.html
I would like to say I am behind Roisin Mor and all down there in Bantry.All the best to you Roisin and we will see you soon.
Yes its time ESB/Shell etc got the message Private Property is just that, I think the ESB always knew this but thought they might get away with it like they have always done. How can they have ALL the RIGHTS without any of the responsibilities?? It just doesn't work that way....They pay on average €25/year to landowners with large pylons (as per 1985 yes 1985 IFA /ESB agreements) while charging rural customers (including those with pylons on their lands) €101.04 /year with PSO levies on top of that. Just out of curiosity how come landowners with mobile phone masts on their lands get an annual rent of €12,000 and ESB pay only €25 approx for much larger structures? Mobile phone companies are private companies and ESB are semi state
Just who do ESB think they are fooling ? They had better start thinking twice about all this....now is the time for them to sit down and work out a strategy which will help them get their projects finished (underground does seem a reasonable and sensible solution- they have managed to underground high voltage cables on more than 1 occasion in Dublin City under footpaths beaches, water, roads etc no prob), people now realise they have been fooled for far too long and it's just come to the end of the LINE for the ESB.
Well now,interesting what happens with the passing of time.It is VERY interesting to read the comments when they are new,then wait a month and read them again.I have been following the Bantry story ever since i saw Joe Burke on TV,long time back,think it was an oirecteas report? Then the developer wanted a powerline built so he "used " the esb to try and do it for him using (or abusing) certain "powers" that esb have under the electricity act of 1927. That didnt work.Next he got injunctions in the high court and that put a certain threat of jail over the heads of the good people of Bantry. Still didnt work.Next came the mighty esb,boys o boys,they arrived in lorryloads,vans poles the lot.Saw pictures on indymedia that i wouldnt believe if i didnt see them with my own two eyes.Bulling and threatening and intimidation like wasnt seen since cromwells time.A stand off that lasted a month and feck me THAT DIDNT WORK EITHER!!!!! What then,here i see Sky News and the developer wants to "talk to the landowners". If that dont beat all,he wants to talk,how come he didnt do that first? Where the feck did he think he was?He wants to talk. Right,who wants to listen to him?Who would talk to a man who just took a high court injunction out against them? He wants to talk.
I give credit to the Bantry group and Joe Burke and his family,who kept the head so well through all of this.Also to Malcome Thompson (ICSA ) who traveled from Donegal to help out and i see he was involved in the meeting last monday too.This group (icsa) should be supported by every right minded farmer in the country.Where were the other farmer groups in all of this ? I didnt hear the IFA saying much,but of couse they have their little deal done with ESB.A cde of practice no less,which is about as usefull as last years calendar.Neither is it a "legally binding document".In other words ,its nothing. Farmers should be watching this case closely as we now see that when people get together in one large groupWITHOUT THE IFA they can hold on to their property rights.We have rights and the Bantry group have now proved this.Put all theese lines underground once and for all.Its time to get organised and get one big group nationwide and take on people like developrs,esb,shell and anyone else.
Full marks to bantry action group.