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Irish Family Press - Love Tara
Vincent Salafi calls on Minister Gormley to preserve the Gabhra Valley)
Love Tara
By Lorcán Mac Mathúna
Approximately 1.000 people turned out on Saturday last on the Love Tara
March to see Mr. Vincent Salafi, spokesperson for TaraWatch, hand in
50,000 petitions for Minister John Gormley asking him to declare the
entire Hill of Tara Archaeological Complex a national monument and
re-route the M3 motorway.
The demonstration, which brought together groups opposed to the
construction of the M3 motorway through the Gabhra Valley, between the
hills of Tara and Skryne, assembled at the Garden of Remembrance and
marched through O’Connell Street and down the quays to the Department of
the Environment in the Custom House. The assembled crowd heard Mr.
Salafi read out a petition calling on Minister Gormley, Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to take action that would
preserve the Gabhra Valley.
The text of what Mr. Salafi read out is as follows:
‘The Hill of Tara archaeological complex, Ireland’s premier national
monument and most sacred landscape, is under dire threat from imminent
bisection by construction of the M3 motorway. As Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, you have a constitutional
imperative to give the highest level of statutory protection possible to
the national monument. That includes all its individual components, many
of which lie in the pathway of the M3, and are national monuments in
their own right.’
(page 2 – with photo of J. Gormley)
Mr. Salafi said that the Minister could now point to a ‘material change
in circumstances’ which would give him the opportunity to halt work on
the motorway if he so wished.
Reading from a list of points included in the petition presented to the
Minister, from the steps of the Custom House, he said: ‘There have in
fact been many material changes, beyond the scope of the Lismullin file
[Dick Roche ordered the henge at Lismullin, which was declared a
national monument, recorded and destroyed].’
Further points included: the inclusion of the Hill of Tara on the World
Monuments Fund’s List of 100 Most Endangered Sites; the EU statement
that the National Development Plan, as well as its M3 project, may be in
breach of EU law; the discovery of an underground or ‘souterrain’
complex in Lismullin which was described as a ‘very significant’ site by
leading expert Professor George Eogan; and, the revelation that the
Minister has been put on notice that the legal difinition of a national
monument is not being applied to theswe sites.
Mr. Salafi said that the Minister has been advised by archaeologist
Conor Newman of a systemic flaw in the methodology for classification of
national monuments currently being employed by the Chief State
Archaeologist.
‘Due to the above material changes in circumstances you now have the
legal power under the National Monuments Act to protect the Tara complet
and to re-route the M3 motorway. We demand that you immediately halt all
works within the Tara complex, and declare the entire complex, as well
as all the monuments within it, to be national monuments. Stop the Tara
scandal now.’
The Minister was not present on Saturday, but at the time this article
went to press Vincent Salafi said that the presentation of the petitions
would be made this week.
Laura Grelish of TaraWatch said that the construction workers on the M3
sites had become noticeably more assertive in recent times, perhaps an
indication that the NRA want to speed up construction, before any
possible change in the legal status of the project occurs.
She appealed for help at the site of the protest. ‘In Cloverhill prison
today there are four men of absolute integrity, who, in the past month
of rain, went out to face these men in their machines,’ she said. She
encouraged people to help in any way, whether it is giving their time or
bringing food and supplies. ‘Just present yourself at the camp on the
hill of Tara,’ she said.
In a press statement, spokesperson Vincent Salafi, said: ‘Minister
Gormley obviously wants us to ask the courts to compel him to act, even
though the EU has stated the demolition of Lismullin is illegal. Now
Minister Gormley must act and does have the power to reroute the M3 as
this is a material change in circumstances from the order given by
former Minister Roche.’
Love Tara
By Lorcán Mac Mathúna
Approximately 1.000 people turned out on Saturday last on the Love Tara
March to see Mr. Vincent Salafi, spokesperson for TaraWatch, hand in
50,000 petitions for Minister John Gormley asking him to declare the
entire Hill of Tara Archaeological Complex a national monument and
re-route the M3 motorway.
The demonstration, which brought together groups opposed to the
construction of the M3 motorway through the Gabhra Valley, between the
hills of Tara and Skryne, assembled at the Garden of Remembrance and
marched through O’Connell Street and down the quays to the Department of
the Environment in the Custom House. The assembled crowd heard Mr.
Salafi read out a petition calling on Minister Gormley, Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to take action that would
preserve the Gabhra Valley.
The text of what Mr. Salafi read out is as follows:
‘The Hill of Tara archaeological complex, Ireland’s premier national
monument and most sacred landscape, is under dire threat from imminent
bisection by construction of the M3 motorway. As Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, you have a constitutional
imperative to give the highest level of statutory protection possible to
the national monument. That includes all its individual components, many
of which lie in the pathway of the M3, and are national monuments in
their own right.’
(page 2 – with photo of J. Gormley)
Mr. Salafi said that the Minister could now point to a ‘material change
in circumstances’ which would give him the opportunity to halt work on
the motorway if he so wished.
Reading from a list of points included in the petition presented to the
Minister, from the steps of the Custom House, he said: ‘There have in
fact been many material changes, beyond the scope of the Lismullin file
[Dick Roche ordered the henge at Lismullin, which was declared a
national monument, recorded and destroyed].’
Further points included: the inclusion of the Hill of Tara on the World
Monuments Fund’s List of 100 Most Endangered Sites; the EU statement
that the National Development Plan, as well as its M3 project, may be in
breach of EU law; the discovery of an underground or ‘souterrain’
complex in Lismullin which was described as a ‘very significant’ site by
leading expert Professor George Eogan; and, the revelation that the
Minister has been put on notice that the legal difinition of a national
monument is not being applied to theswe sites.
Mr. Salafi said that the Minister has been advised by archaeologist
Conor Newman of a systemic flaw in the methodology for classification of
national monuments currently being employed by the Chief State
Archaeologist.
‘Due to the above material changes in circumstances you now have the
legal power under the National Monuments Act to protect the Tara complet
and to re-route the M3 motorway. We demand that you immediately halt all
works within the Tara complex, and declare the entire complex, as well
as all the monuments within it, to be national monuments. Stop the Tara
scandal now.’
The Minister was not present on Saturday, but at the time this article
went to press Vincent Salafi said that the presentation of the petitions
would be made this week.
Laura Grelish of TaraWatch said that the construction workers on the M3
sites had become noticeably more assertive in recent times, perhaps an
indication that the NRA want to speed up construction, before any
possible change in the legal status of the project occurs.
She appealed for help at the site of the protest. ‘In Cloverhill prison
today there are four men of absolute integrity, who, in the past month
of rain, went out to face these men in their machines,’ she said. She
encouraged people to help in any way, whether it is giving their time or
bringing food and supplies. ‘Just present yourself at the camp on the
hill of Tara,’ she said.
In a press statement, spokesperson Vincent Salafi, said: ‘Minister
Gormley obviously wants us to ask the courts to compel him to act, even
though the EU has stated the demolition of Lismullin is illegal. Now
Minister Gormley must act and does have the power to reroute the M3 as
this is a material change in circumstances from the order given by
former Minister Roche.’
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