Infrastructure
national |
anti-capitalism |
opinion/analysis 
Sunday August 12, 2007 13:18
by Strategic
Aarhus and Heritage
A short synopsis of ten Years of FF. Reaction Welcome.
http://www.savetara.com
Planning and unsustainabiltiy:-
The Glen Of the Downs campaign which happened ten years ago began for many a domino
effect of how a corrupt and craven administration deals with the issues of 'progress' and
'prosperity' and what an uneducated and expedient government , or series of administrations
were introduced to the people of Ireland by the party which has roots in every single
chamber of commerce in this country has shown itself.
The Glen Planning issue was presided over by the then Minister of 'Arts, heritage, Gaelteacht and the
Islands', Ms Sile De Valera. The incumbent hit some road blocks and started to use legislations
such as trespass orders, injunctions and contempt orders to push through the urban sprawl
from the south of Dublin into the Wicklow area. The lands were transferred from the
ownership of Coillte into the hands of the CC and from thence into the hands of Ascon,
the developers. The injunctions which imprisoned 16 people for a period of seven weeks,
and four of them for a long term were sponsored by Wicklow County Council and Ascon.
The resultant fines for breach of Habitat directive were buried in the post 9/11 media
scrum and the legislators realising that money/hard cash was available through building
*big highways began to introduce a series of changes to the books to ensure swifter
access to hard cash, whils ignoring the car dependence problems of urban sprawl
and the unsustainability of radical development on the island.
The first thing that FF accomplished on re-election was a shift in portfolios:
*Heritage was dropped from 'Arts, Culture, Gaelteacht and the Islands'
The portfolio vanished for twelve months!
*Duchas was abolished by Martin Cullen on Feburary 23rd 2003. The role of Duchas
was divided between the Commissioners for Public Works in ireland (52 St Stpehen's
Green) and the D.O.E. Duchas was the only agency which had statutory power to implement the
National Monuments Act (2004-as amended).
*The National Monuments Act 2004 was amended to allow for 'preservation by
record' - giving the incumbent Minister the right to demolish a heritage site within
28 sitting days of the Oireachtas.
*The Housing Miscellaneous Provisions 2002 Bill allowed for the 'Trepass Law'
which criminalised both traveller and temporary camps (used in relation to clearing camps).
*The Governments have been inconsistent breach of Habitats Directive and fined since
September 2002.
In 2006 The Strategic Infrastructure Bill was launched which transposes elements of Aaarhus
into Irish Law, this means that only incepted Environmental groups with the
'Protection of the Environment' in their books can access judicial process in relation to
querying the NDP and also it envisages a separate section in the Irish Courts where
fast-track planning can be shoved through. 54 projects are already applied for and the
PPP is not tri-partite but weighted against the citizen.
Thus we have a raft of legislations which will facilitate everything from the 'Suas'
to GM and Heritage destruction to Nuclear power stations with no concommitent
raft of legislations to protect heritage and community.
What the Minister @environ can do:-
1.Repeal S.I.B.
2.Re-institute a Statutory agency with powers of implementation.
3.Investigate the NRA's 'Planning and Construction 'Guidelines.
4.Transpose Aarhus in toto into Irish Legislation.
5.Prioritise the protection of natural and built heritage within his term of office.
or allow the insidious use of Ireland by the corporate lobby to continue in its unadulterated
fashion and wreak more havoc on both the community and objector. This dilution of citizen
power and acceptance of a linear progression of corrupt planning laws indicated the FF
way of creating a mess for the next generation which shews the Green Party for what it is:-
more interested in accessing power than in dealing with the effect of power on our
natural and built heritage. unfortunately the new minister has chosen to holiday
during a time when responsible action is necessitated and indicates a lackadaisical
approach to addressing the corruption with which the election campain of that party
was sucessfully fought and won.
Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83769
[This article details the cogs and wheels of the Strategic Infrastructure Bill.It was launched
on the 16th of Feburary 2006 by Dick Roche TD, who stated at the launch that he did not
envisage a separate raft of legislations for protection. He also asserted that he would only
transpose selected elements of the Aarhus Convention into Irish Law. The Bill was moved
through the joint houses of the Oireachtas on the 16th of June 2006, in the absence of the
Taoiseach]
In the comments beneath the article there is a link to the whole bill:-
http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2006/0...s.pdf
The sections on the transposition of the Aarhus convention directly effect future planning and
the structure of the courts and were attacked at the time by Mayo TD Michael ring as being
the most inflammatory set of legislations to be passed through the houses in the history of the
state. they form part of the linear progression of Bills which have prioritised the erosion
of rights of access to judicial process by ordinary people and the criminlaisation of
objectors to fast-track planning without the requisite balance in the protections of
natural and built heritage.
"Stiglitz agreed that the process of hijacking and looting key infrastructure on the part of the IMF and World Bank, as an offshoot of predatory globalization, had now moved from the third world to Europe, the United States and Canada."
Joseph Stiglitz, the Stiglitz referred to above, is a former World Bank Vice President and Nobel Prize winner.
The above quote has been taken from http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2006/301006...h.htm .
Apparently, according to the report at the above address, Mr Stiglitz also caused controversy in October 2001 when he exposed rampant corruption within the IMF (International Monitory Fund) and "blew the whistle on their nefarious methods of inducing countries to fall under their debt before stripping them of sovereignty and hollowing out their economies".
One final quote from the article at the above address: "The Columbia University Professor described how rampant privatization has crippled Mexico, in particular citing the sell-off of major infrastructure such as roads."
"Stiglitz agreed that the process of hijacking and looting key infrastructure on the part of the IMF and World Bank, as an offshoot of predatory globalization, had now moved from the third world to Europe, the United States and Canada."
Joseph Stiglitz, the Stiglitz referred to above, is a former World Bank Vice President and Nobel Prize winner.
The above quote has been taken from http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2006/301006...h.htm .
Apparently, according to the report at the above address, Mr Stiglitz also caused controversy in October 2001 when he exposed rampant corruption within the IMF (International Monitory Fund) and "blew the whistle on their nefarious methods of inducing countries to fall under their debt before stripping them of sovereignty and hollowing out their economies".
One final quote from the article at the above address: "The Columbia University Professor described how rampant privatization has crippled Mexico, in particular citing the sell-off of major infrastructure such as roads."
The UK Police have press released in Yesterday's Guardian that they intend to use
anti-terror laws of arrest and detention against the NVDA action to prevent the unsustainable
expansion of Heathrow Airport. One female activist was 'lifted' and spent thirty hours in a police cell
without charge and with no contact or familial support.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
The use of infrastructural development laws that mitigate against a citizenship and criminalise
the conscientous objector are plainly evident in the abuse of power by the Present members of the
Oireachtas in relation to Rossport, Pallaskenry and Tara. The Green Party have signed up
to the SIB bill which is delineated in the articles and links above. there are 54 corporate
projects awaiting advance through the Irish court system, facilitated by the Blll which only seeks to
transpose elements of Aaarhus into irish Law and ignoring the very real implications of placing
the money and profit lobby ahead of the community and citizen. If there was to be a campaign that
was to be effective , people must be aware that Tara is symptomatic of the 'beginning' of
a sell out for profit by a right wing government with a cosmetically enhanced green party
providing the conscience of the devlopment agenda. in the meantime needed infrastructural
devlopment such as a national health service is deliberately run down to increase the
profit margins of aspirant investors.
read the article on Climate Camp at:-
http://www.indymedia.org/uk/en/2007/08/378022.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk
Heathrow Climate Camp
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74361
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76680
Between Feburary 16th 2006 and June 16th 2006, the houses of the Oireachtas moved
this legislation which envisages changes in our courts and how we develop planning.
It reduces access to judicial process and ameliorates the access of the corporate lobby
to cash from planning.
Within the period 2001-2007 a series of planning legislations by , Primarily Martin Cullen
and Noel Dempsey have eroded basic rights and facilitated eco crises such as Tara and
Rossport. The SIB reduces objection by failing to transpose the Aarhus convention in toto
into our legislation.
The Minister for the Environment must be aware that the legislations mitigate against
the individual and re-visit the progression from the Housing Bill (Miscellaneous Provisions)
2002 up to and including the Strategic Infrastructure Bill 2006.
He must reinstitute Statutory protections for natural and built heritage.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/378039.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/378022.html
The UK police are using tactics refined through G8, RTS and anti-terror legislation to
bring down the climate camp against the Heathrow development which is both economically
and ecologically unsustainable.
The Irish approach to conscientious objection involves devloping the PPP and the SIB
to criminalise protestors.
[The image of the activists on the giant tripods in the comments above is from the Climate
Camp thread on indymedia UK. the report on anti-terror tactics is in
http://www.guardian.co.uk [Saturday 11-08-07]
The writer of above article is mistaken ! Coillte never owned land along the N11. The land in question was owned by the OPW, which shortly after the start of the Glen campaign became Duchas. It was Duchas who transfered the land to Wicklow County Council. This never had anything to do with Coillte. I was on the Glen campaign, am living in the locality for 18 years and know every quarter inch around the Bellevue Woods / Glen O'Downs.
Michael is quite right, the lands were illegally transferred by the dept to Ascon via duchas,
the rest of the article, I hope is to his satisfaction?
Factual inaccuracies are terrible things.
The Coillte lands extended up behind the octagon and into the golf course area, I hope the
varied planning bills dated 2001-2006 are accurate Michael and the use of Injunction to
imprison your former colleagues????
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