"Tara Don't Want No Carrickmines"

meath | history and heritage | feature

Saturday January 31, 2004 16:50

by Vincent Salafia - Save Tara/Skryne Valley

salafiam at tcd dot ie

PO BOX 30, Tara, County Meath

(087) 132-3365

Cullen Must Place Preservation Order on All National Monuments of Ireland

savetaraskreen

'All interference with national monuments of Ireland is now presumed illegal and must cease immediately, until the Government has passed valid regulations governing such action. No Ministerial order, or grant of planning permission, authorising interference with a national monument, can be justfiably relied upon.Any attempt to disfigure any national monument, particularly the Hill of Tara, will have to answer to the citizens of Ireland, in their Courts.

The High Court has declared the system regulating destruction of national monuments unconstitutional, since it did not comply with the National Monuments Act, 1930 (as amended). The ‘technical glitch’ mentioned by Judge Kearns referred to the Government’s attempt to dilute the protections contained in Section 14 of the Act, governing Ministerial Consent, not the Act itself.

The 1994 Amendment to the Act, drafted in response to Wood Quay, was designed to avoid the exact scenario we face today at Carrickmines. It required three state agencies to make the important decision to interfere with a national monument. By reducing the requirement to two actors by statutory instrument in 2002 the Government ignored the central democratic principle of checks and balances within the Act. When these two actors failed to perform their duties properly, there was no third actor to check it.

One cannot help but wonder if the drafting of the 2002 statutory instrument was linked to the ‘sudden’ closure of Duchas, The Heritage Service, in 2002? If so, it would appear that our own Government unconstitutionally conspired to dismantle, by stealth, all legal protections for heritage, long before Carrickmines Castle blew up.'

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Full Text of Original Contributed Piece

Statement by Vincent Salafia, Carrickminder, PRO Save Tara/Skryne Valley Campaign. 31 January 2004

All interference with national monuments of Ireland is now presumed illegal and must cease immediately, until the Government has passed valid regulations governing such action. No Ministerial order, or grant
of planning permission, authorising interference with a national monument, can be justfiably relied upon.Any attempt to disfigure any national monument,
particularly the Hill of Tara, will have to answer to the citizens of Ireland, in their Courts.

The High Court has declared the system regulating destruction of national monuments unconstitutional, since it did not comply with the National Monuments
Act, 1930 (as amended). The ‘technical glitch’
mentioned by Judge Kearns referred to the’
Government’s attempt to dilute the protections contained in Section 14 of the Act, governing Ministerial Consent, not the Act itself.

The 1994 Amendment to the Act, drafted in response to Wood Quay, was designed to avoid the exact scenario we face today at Carrickmines. It required three state
agencies to make the important decision to interfere with a national monument. By reducing the requirement to two actors by statutory instrument in 2002 the Government ignored the central democratic principle of
checks and balances within the Act. When these two actors failed to perform their duties properly, there was no third actor to check it.

One cannot help but wonder if the drafting of the 2002 statutory instrument was linked to the ‘sudden’ closure of Duchas, The Heritage Service, in 2002? If so, it would appear that our own Government
unconstitutionally conspired to dismantle, by stealth, all legal protections for heritage, long before Carrickmines Castle blew up.

The Government must immediately replace the third actor, preferably with another Minister as before, in order to reinstate the checks and balances under the
National Monument Act. It must not be allowed to use this occasion as an excuse to water down protections for all of Irish heritage by amending the National
Monument’s Act. What an embarrassment it would be for a nation such as ours.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Martin Cullen has acted illegally and it would be immoral of this Government to pass new legislation simply to legalize these illegal acts. He must now get down off his high horse, go around the
monument and complete the motorway, and spare the taxpayer any more wasted time or money. If the legally required system had remained in place the site would be intact, and the Motorway would be much closer
to completion. This is still his only sane option.

What does remain in place is the provision for a Preservation Order, under Section 8 of the National Monuments Act, which provides: “Where it appears to the Minister … that a national monument is in danger
of being or is actually being destroyed, injured, or removed, or is falling into decay through neglect, the Minister may by order entrust the preservation of such
monument to the Commissioners.”

Minister Cullen must exercise his existing statutory role and immediately place a moratorium, or Preservation Orders on all national monuments, including the Hill of Tara and Trim Castle, or face a litany of lengthy, costly and embarrassing legal
challenges in the future.

If anyone is aware of any national monument being interfered with, please email: salafiam@tcd.ie