the auld triangle

meath | history and heritage | news report Wednesday July 09, 2008 20:52 by campaigner - save tara campaign dinnyw123 at hotmail dot com

8.7.08 another dark day for Tara, as gardai yet again illegally evict another Tara camp.

The Auld Triangle is a plot of land by the entrance to the Hill of Tara which has been disputed for many years. Apparantly the state have tried to claim the land several times over the past one hundred years but were unable to do so as there are no title deeds for this patch of land. On March 3rd 08 the land was still registered to the Minister of State (documentary proof attached) .

On the summer Solstice this year due to the OPW employing the services of MD security to prevent peaceful members of the public from camping on their lands on the hill of Tara, campaigners we forced to move onto the 'auld triangle', this was even a suggestion from some of the security on the night.

Over the next couple of weeks Michael Maguire of the coffee shop claimed squatters rights to the land as he has grazed his animals on this patch for years, other locals claimed the land had been given to a Protestant minister to graze his horses many years ago, all claims seem to have been rendered useless due to the occupation of the newest residents and somehow Meath Co Council have engineered their own plan for the take over of the triangle.

Yesterday in the early afternoon 20 Gardai and 15 Co Council workers arrived quoting the Housing and Miscellaneous Act 2002, claiming this act gave them the authority to remove the property ( 1 large hut and an assortment of tents) from the triangle, they gave Mr JP Fay a piece of paper which they claimed to be sufficiant legal documentation to permit them to remove his property (please refer to video link page copy of letter can be seen there). When the Sargent present was challenged on the legality of the eviction memebers of the public were told to contact the Garda Ombudsman about the matter. Onlookers watched in horror as Co Council workers trashed Jp's belongings including the St Brigids crosses which were made at a workshop on the Summer Solstice this year and JP's altar with all the gifts brought to him from all over the world over the last two years while he has been holding the space. He was informed that he could collect his posessions from Navan Garda station at a later date.

By 5pm the dirty deed was done and the gardai and council workers left. Campaigners were left sitting round the stove in the carpark ... again , feeling that all too familiar experience of violation and injustice .
At around 10.30pm 3 off duty council workers who had been there during the day arrived and proceeded to pester JP, shouting in his face and following him around. Repeatedly JP told him to leave him alone and go away but the pest was relentless. There was a cafufal and the the gardai were called. It was quite obvious to those present that the Co.Co. workers were just there to antagonise and provoke .