Shelving of N2 Slane Bypass Welcomed by Campaigners – Call for Planning Process to be Halted

Posted on November 30, 2010 by vincent

SAVE NEWGRANGE – PRESS RELEASE – Monday, 29 November 2010

‘Shelving of N2 Slane Bypass Welcomed by Campaigners’

Save Newgrange welcomes the shelving of the N2 Slane bypass, and is calling for the An Bord Pleanala planning process to be cancelled. The N2 Slane bypass was not included in the Four Year Budget Plan, released on Wednesday, 24 November. However, An Bord Pleanala has since indicated that it is proceeding with an oral hearing, as part of the planning process.  An Bord Pleanala has stated that the proposed oral hearing will take place some time early in the New Year; probably “next February”. However, if planning permission is granted, after the hearing, it will be over four years before construction can begin. This will mean that planning permission will be out of date.

The upgrading of the N2 Ashbournce to Ardee section of the N2 has already been shelved, so it doesn’t make any sense to continue with this section in the middle as a stand-alone 3.5km dual carriageway. Over 100 objections have been filed against the bypass, including evidence from leading archaeologist, Professor George Eogan, that the proposed route will result in the loss of World Heritage statue for Newgrange (Bru na Boinne).  Evidence that ESRI economist Dr Edgar Morgenroth has deemed the bypass an “idiotic” waste of taxpayers money has also been submitted to the board.

Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange said:

“There is no point in proceeding with a lengthy and expensive planning hearing if there is no money to build the road.  It is outrageous that we will be forced to spend time and money attending a lengthy oral hearing, with expert witnesses, if all of the data being used will be out of date in four years.  We are calling on the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, and the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, to immediately reign in the NRA and Meath County Council, and end this farce.

ENDS

Continue reading →

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Irish Times – Letter to the editor: Was it for this? The state of the nation

Posted on November 19, 2010 by vincent

Taoiseach Bran Cowen gives a speech at the annual Fianna Fáil Easter Rising 1916 Commemoration at Arbour Hill, Dublin. Cowen insisted yesterday that the Government did not mislead anyone at the weekend when Ministers claimed that no application had been made to the EU. Photograph : Matt Kavanagh, Irish Times


Was it for this? The state of the nation

The Irish Times - Letter to the Editor – 19 November 2010

Madam, – The Irish Times must end its traditional bias in favour of the Green Party. How can you reconcile your editorial lament for the loss of Irish sovereignty (November 18th) with the statement by Minister for Communications Éamon Ryan TD that he doesn’t have a problem with the fact that “the Government ‘may need help’ from Europe”? (Breaking News, November 18th) Mr Ryan should have a read your Editorial first, to even begin to gauge a fraction of the damage he and his spineless, vacuous and downright amateur outfit have inflicted on this former, now fatally failed, State.

Stephen Collins couldn’t have been more lucid and hard-hitting in his analysis (Opinion, November 18th), but he missed the bull’s-eye. Yes, Fianna Fáil is to blame, but the Green Party is too. The Constitution has been continuously undermined by the Green Party, which actively voted in favour of Nama and the bank guarantee. By staying in Government they deprived the Irish people of their constitutional right to vote on the matters themselves, in a referendum or general election, which they were crying out for.

The proposed contract to be made with the IMF/EU is invalid, under the Constitution. I don’t believe the nation or the people ever vested, or intended to vest, the power to dissolve the State, and hand over sovereignty. It is simply ultra vires,or beyond the constitutional powers of the Government. Such power would be akin to it having been given the power to completely strip us of our civil and political rights – indeed our human rights; to be citizens and to be full human beings, with the right of self-determination.

In essence, the Government is attempting to make us slaves; a lost race, which has, like many before, lost its footing on the land. The field is sold, and there seems to be no beating back “the prowler waves off the west coast”, save a case to the European Court of Human Rights. – Yours, etc,

VINCENT SALAFIA,

Mary’s Abbey, Dublin 7.

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Funding NI A5 Upgrade and Slane Bypass not a Priority for Labour Party

Posted on November 18, 2010 by vincent

SAVE NEWGRANGE – PRESS RELEASE – 18 November 2010

“Funding NI A5 Upgrade and Slane Bypass not a Priority for Labour Party”

The Labour Party has cast doubt over whether it will keep the promise made by the current Government to give £400 (€500m) to the Northern Ireland Executive to upgrade the A5/M2, Dublin to Derry Road, which also includes the Slane bypass. The promise was made at the time of the Belfast Agreement, and has been renewed by Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey.

Public consultation on what would be the biggest road ever built in Northern Ireland began yesterday with the publication of the Environmental Statement for the A5 dual carriageway, to be built from the N2/Border to Derry, and on to Letterkenny. The deadline for public comment closes 21 January 2011.

Transport spokesman, Joe Costello, TD, responded yesterday to a pre-Budgetary survey by Save Newgrange, saying:

“Ireland is in the worst recession in the history of the State. Spending one billion euro on a new road from Dublin to Derry including a €400 million spend in Northern Ireland will certainly not be a priority for the Labour Party while essentials such as health and education are being savagely cut.

“The Labour Party has made it clear that we will be revisiting the National Development Plan and Transport 21 in the context of the present state of the public finances. A realistic cost benefit analysis will be applied to every project.

“Moreover we are reviewing the entire Transport policy with a new emphasis on urban and rural public transport.

Tom Elliot, Ulster Unionist Party leader, yesterday told the Belfast Telegraph:

“It would seem from the latest communiqué of the North-South Ministerial Council that ministers have agreed a payment schedule for the project, but I still consider that this amount of money would be better spent on other important projects in the health and education sectors.

“I share the views of many of the people on both sides of the border that the project should be scaled down to a more modest version — this could be achieved at a fraction of the cost.”

Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange said:

“We welcome Labour’s response to the pres-budgetary survey and their promise to perform a new cost/benefit analysis on the Slane bypass and the A5 upgrade.

“We will be updating our EU Complaint, on the basis that there should have been cross-border public consultation for both ends of this single ‘transboundary project’.

“It is very telling that the Green Party and Fine Gael both declined to respond to the pre-budgetary survey.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS: A pre-budgetary survey was sent to all of the political parties on Thursday, 11 November, and responses were to be returned by 5.00pm yesterday, 17 November. The Labour Party was the only party to respond. The complete survey is available at www.savenewgrange.org.

MORE INFORMATION:

A5 Western Transport Corridor – Environmental Statement

Belfast Telegraph: It’s time to scale back £844m road, urges UUP leader

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Please participate in the Irish Heritage Rights survey, to be sent to the UN Human Rights Council

Posted on November 7, 2010 by vincent

The Irish Times published an opinion piece by Éamonn Mac Aodha, chief executive of the Irish Human Rights Commission, on Tuesday 2 November, entitled, ‘We have one year to measure up to UN review of human rights‘.  He urges Irish people to participate in a review of human rights in Ireland, because in October 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council will examine Ireland for the first time under a new UN process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). TaraWatch and Save Newgrange are urging the public to claim their human right to culture and participate in UPR by filling out their Irish Heritage Rights survey. According to the UN:

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 States responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.  The Council was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 with the main purpose of addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

One year after holding its first meeting, on 18 June 2007, the Council adopted its “Institution-building package” [Word file] providing elements to guide it in its future work.  Among the elements is the new Universal Periodic Review mechanism which will assess the human rights situations in all 192 UN Member States.  Other features include a new Advisory Committee which serves as the Council’s “think tank” providing it with expertise and advice on thematic human rights issues and the revised Complaints Procedure mechanism which allows individuals and organizations to bring complaints about human rights violations to the attention of the Council.

If you feel that cultural and tradition rights and heritage sites in Ireland such as the Hill of Tara, 16 Moore Street, Skellig Michael and Brú na Bóinne are not being adequately protected, then please take about an hour and fill out the Irish Heritage Rights survey.

For more information, please email info@tarawatch.org

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Meath Chronicle: Survey finds ancient earthworks near Slane bypass route

Posted on October 14, 2010 by vincent

Aerial view of the site of the Rossnaree Enclosure, Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath. The site is in the stubble field in the middle of the picture. The enclosure at the bottom is a smaller Early Medieval site.

Survey finds ancient earthworks near Slane bypass route

Meath Chronicle – Wednesday, 13th October, 2010 4:52pm – Profile by Ann Casey

An archaeological survey commissioned by former Attorney General John Rogers, SC, as part of his objection to an N2 bypass running east of Slane has found a previously unrecorded “impressively large earthwork”, believed to be part of the outer defences of an early medieval royal stronghold at Knowth.  The survey, carried out by archaeologists Joe Fenwick, Gerard Dowling and Roseanne Schot of the Brú na Bóinne Research Project, has been submitted to An Bórd Pleanála as additional information as part of its consideration of plans for the proposed bypass.

The earthwork was said to have been found at Crewbane, near the home of Mr Rogers. It was prompted by the discovery in 2007 of a souterrain in Crewbane, at the perimiter of ther Brú na Bóinne UNESCO work heritage site ‘buffer zone’ 2km east of Slane village and 1km from the prehistoric passage tomb of Knowth.  The archaeologists said that “this impressively large earthwork” is not recorded in the Sites and Monuments Record for County Meath.

“It is apparent that the Crewbane souterrain is not an isolated archaeological monument in the landscape, but one element in a complex of archaeological features situated on and around this prominent ridge overlooking the river Boyne. These include a second and possibly third potential souterrain, a substantial linear embankment, a circular enclosure (of) 40m in diameter (a possible ring fort), a relict field system and associated open settlement of possible medieval or early modern date,” they reported.

Mr Fenwick has suggested that the “only realistic option” for the traffic problem in Slane was to ban heavy goods vehicles entirely from the village and provide an east-west corridor to the north of Slane, to redirect this traffic towards “the new and under-utilised” M1 and M3 motorways. The consultations with An Bórd Pleanála end this Friday.

Meanwhile, the Save Newgrange campaign has brought its fight against the proposed Slane bypass to the North-South Ministerial Council.  The group has complained to An Bord Pleanala and the North-South Ministerial Council that the public consultation process for the bypass is in breach of the Belfast Agreement, because the consultation does not extend to Northern Ireland.  They say that the road proposal is in breach of EU environmental law, which provides for transboundary consultation, where the project is of a transboundary nature.

Spokesman Vincent Salafia said that the N2 Slane Bypass was part of the plan to link the A5/M2 motorway between Dublin and Derry, which is being funded as part of the Belfast Agreement. Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has committed €500,000 to the Northern Ireland authorities for construction of the A5 and other roads under the agreement.

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Minister Gormley Must Bring Forward the National Monuments Bill, Before An Bord Pleanála Decides on the N2 Slane Bypass

Posted on October 12, 2010 by vincent

[Unpublished letter sent to The Irish Times, October 11, 2010]

Maol Sheachlainn Ó Caollaí rightly points out that “the current National Monuments Acts do not provide any protection for historic battlefields”, and urges to Minister to include such protections “in his proposed new act”.  (Letters, 11 October) As the Minister himself has often noted, the act doesn’t give much protection to national monuments either. It is high time he presented his proposed new Act to the Oireachtas.  The heads of legislation were published during the last Dáill term, and delivery is over two years past the promised delivery date.

With Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site under threat from the N2 Slane bypass, it is critical that the new Act is introduced immediately, so as to inform An Bord Pleanála’s decision on whether to grant planning permission. But instead of moving the legislation forward this term, we now hear Minister Gormley telling Marian Finucane he ”believes an all-party approach to the economy would be possible and would be in the ‘national interest’.”  (Breaking News, 11 Oct)

Let us not forget that Green Party members had an opportunity to act in the national interest when they alone got to vote on whether NAMA would be introduced, and whether this coalition Government would continue in power. Minister Gormley led the charge then, calling on his party members to stay in Government and support NAMA; an act of ultimate self-interest. 84 per cent voted in favour of the programme for Government, and 69 per cent said yes to NAMA. (12 Oct 2009)

What would truly be in the national interest would be if he were to stop behaving like the leader of the beleaguered Green Party and start behaving like the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and deliver on the promises that got his party members elected and put into power in the first place.

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Meath Chronicle | Letter to the editor: The facts on the Slane bypass

Posted on September 29, 2010 by vincent

The facts on the Slane bypass

Meath Chronicle | Letter to the editor | Wednesday, 29th September, 2010

Dear sir – The Bypass Slane Campaign (BSC) has repeatedly accused ‘commentators’ of being ‘ill-informed’, and spreading ‘misinformation’. So, let’s deal with the critical facts here, regarding the proposed Slane bypass.

The first fact is that it has been Meath County Council, acting as agents of the National Roads Authority (NRA), who have proven themselves lacking in the information department. That is why An Bord Pleanala forced them to publish additional information, and re-open public consultation. Submissions can now be made to An Bord Pleanala until 15th October. All the previously withheld information on the proposed bypass, including; the western route options; the potential impact on Brú na Bóinne; archaeological reports on the 44 impacted sites; and the relationship of the bypass to the N2 Ashbourne to Ardee project, is now available on the Meath County Council web site. Even the original Environmental Impact Statement, which was not available on their web site during the original consultation, is now available for download.

The second fact is that while the Fianna Fail leaders of BSC, Thomas Byrne TD and Cllr Wayne Harding have attacked ESRI economist Dr Edgar Morgenroth, for calling the bypass proposal ‘idiotic’, the fact of the matter is that the NRA agreed with Dr Morgenroth and cancelled the Slane Bypass in May 2009, on economic grounds. In a letter delivered to councillors at a Slane Electoral Area meeting, reported in this paper, the NRA said that it needed to concentrate on a number of other national projects which are seen as being “particularly important for regional development”. Because of this, and the continued uncertainty regarding public finances, the NRA regretted that “it is not possible at this time to provide funding for the construction of the N2 Slane Bypass.”

The third fact is that the HGV ban was approved unanimously by Meath County Councillors in April 2009, and the County Manager, Tom Dowling, is under a legal duty to implement it, as he was told in the Transport Committee hearing last year. Residents of Slane, including the Ban HGVs from Slane campaign led by Carina Mount Charles, have campaigned and protested for years for a HGV ban in the village. The Minister for Transport, and Fianna Fail TD for Meath, Noel Dempsey, was even reported in this paper in 2009 as promising to “actively implement” the HGV ban. But the HGVs still roll through the village at an alarming rate, endangering lives every day.

The fourth fact is that a bypass of Slane has already been constructed, at a cost of over half a billion euros to the taxpayer. It is called the M1 motorway, and lies about five miles to the east of the village. It runs along the eastern boundary of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, with a massive bridge over the Boyne, clearly visible from the Unesco site. Minister Dempsey and the Fianna Fail led BSC campaign would rather endanger lives in Slane on a daily basis than force the HGVs to use the road that was built for them, in order to unfairly pressurise An Bord Pleanala into approving a non-viable bypass, based on artificially inflated traffic volume.

Yours,

Vincent Salafia,
Save Newgrange,
Suite 108,
The Capel Building,
Mary’s Abbey,
Dublin 7.

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Londonderry Sentinel | Road lobbyists team up with southern counterparts

Posted on September 23, 2010 by vincent

Transport 21 map – Click to enlarge

Road lobbyists team up with southern counterparts

Londonderry Sentinel | 23 September 2010

A LOBBY group opposing the proposed A5 Western Transport Corridor (WTC) between Londonderry and Aughnacloy has teamed up with campaigners in Monaghan and Meath to oppose what it terms “ghost roads” on both sides of the border. Three campaign groups – the Alternative A5 Alliance (AA5A), Save Newgrange (SN) and Don’t By the Bypass (DBTB) – working on different sections of the proposed M2/A5 motorway, which will eventually run from Dublin to Londonderry, have now joined force

AA5A is challenging the need for the upgrade of the A5 primary route, from the border to Londonderry, which at 55 miles will be the longest single road project ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. Authorities on both sides of the border are planning this section of the road together, and the Irish Government has committed to pay for a share of it.

Lynne Smyth, Secretary of the Alternative A5 Alliance said: “The Alternative A5 Alliance is delighted to be able to cooperate with the other campaign groups along the route of this proposed road. Together we must alert the people of Ireland to the catastrophe these ‘ghost roads’ will cause. “This is not the time to be tarmacing over our farmland and natural habitat. It is time to seek a sustainable transport option which will serve our future needs as well as that of our grandchildren – as they will be paying for it.

Noel Murphy, a spokesman for Don’t Bypass the Bypass, said: “Its great to be working in co-operation with the other groups, and we need to remain so going forward.”

Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange said: “We are delighted to have North-South co-operation between our community groups along the proposed M2/A5. “The people of Northern Ireland should have a say in what happens to the Brú na Bóinne Unesco World Heritage Site, since they are being asked to pay for part of the road that will severely impact it. “We welcome the intervention of Dr Edgar Morgenroth, associate economist with the ESRI, who said the N2 plans are ‘idiocy,’ and called for the HGV ban to be implemented in Slane.”Minister Dempsey must act now to both save lives in Slane, and stop wasting taxpayers’ money on ‘ghost roads’.”

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Meath Chronicle | Information on Slane Bypass now on display

Posted on September 23, 2010 by vincent

Information on Slane Bypass now on display

Meath Chronicle | Wednesday, 22nd September, 2010
Profile by Ann Casey

Additional information on the proposed Slane Bypass is now on public display, following a request earlier this year from An Bord Pleanala for further information on the scheme. The information is on display in County Hall in Navan, Meath County Council’s Road Design office at Navan Enterprise Centre and at the Civic Offices at Main Street, Duleek, until 15th October. Submissions on the scheme must be forwarded to An Bord Pleanala by 15th October.

Cllr Wayne Harding said the proposal for the Slane Bypass could only be enhanced with public input and the more information that is available to people, the better. “People will now have the opportunity to make submissions to An Bord Pleanala as the public information requested by them will go on display until 15th October,” he said. “It is vital that we get the best possible bypass for Slane as it will have a huge impact on the village and the wider Boyne Valley area.” Cllr Harding pointed out that the people of Slane had campaigned long and hard for the bypass, so it was essential that it is progressed without delay. “The safety issues are well documented with the dangers of heavy vehicles going through the village very evident. A bypass would give peace of mind to residents and visitors to the village, but would also benefit local business as additional people would be encouraged to travel to the village in the absence of congestion and dangerous roads. This is another step on the way to the most important piece of infrastructure that Slane village has had since its foundation 250 years ago,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Save Newgrange campaign welcomed the new public consultation for the N2 Slane bypass. Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange said: “This is a victory for the public who were not given the full information in relation to this grandiose proposal, and yet who are expected to foot the bill.  “We will be waging an international campaign over the next month, particularly in Northern Ireland, to get as many objections has possible filed with An Bord Pleanala. Dr Edgar Morgenroth of the ESRI has called this plan an ‘idiotic’ waste of taxpayer’s money, and we hope more experts like him will make now make submissions. “In the meantime, we are demanding that Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, keep his promise to ‘actively facilitate’ the HGV ban in Slane, which was unanimously voted for by county councillors in April 2009,” Mr Salafia added.

WRITE LETTER TO EDITOR ken@meathchronicle.ie

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The Irish Times – New round of public consultations ordered for proposed Slane bypass

Posted on September 20, 2010 by vincent

New round of public consultations ordered for proposed Slane bypass

The Irish Times – Monday, September 20, 2010

FRANK McDONALD Environment Editor

A NEW round of public consultations on controversial plans for a dual-carriageway bypass of Slane, Co Meath, has been ordered by An Bord Pleanála, with October 15th set as the closing date. A public notice advertising the new round of consultations was published recently in national newspapers. The original consultation period closed on February 25th last.

An Bord Pleanála had sought additional information from Meath County Council on the road scheme, including whether an alternative route running to the west of Slane had been examined. The current proposal, which is being advanced on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA), would run to the east of Slane, some 500 metres from the boundary of Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site.

The appeals board also sought alternative designs for a new bridge over the river Boyne, noting that the cable-stayed bridge originally proposed would be visible from the World Heritage Site. It also wanted the council to produce more detailed archaeological and geophysical reports on investigations of 44 archaeological sites that would be affected by the original scheme.

The information was sought “in order to clarify certain points in the environmental impact statement [EIS] and assist the board’s assessment of the likely effects on the environment” of the road. This followed complaints to An Bord Pleanála by the Save Newgrange group, former attorney general John Rogers SC and leading archaeologist Prof George Eogan that the EIS was flawed.

Save Newgrange spokesman Vincent Salafia said: “We will be waging an international campaign over the next month, particularly in Northern Ireland, to get as many objections as possible filed with An Bord Pleanála.”

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