Carrickmines - 'They havent gone away you know.....'

Sunday January 18, 2004 13:40

by Tara Hill

Carrickmines - News and Comment

GOOD news for conservationists this Sunday Morning. Carrickmines Castle goes to appeal in the Supreme Court this Thursday. This comes within a fortnight of the most recent hearing at the High Court, where regrettably from the conservationist’s point of view, a retrograde decision was handed down.

Thursday’s appeal is going in with the apparent support of all involved, who have stated “that it is now beyond doubt that M50 completion does not rely on the destruction of Carrickmines Castle, but ‘Jackson Way’ access does!” Currently under investigation by the CAB and Tribunals, Jackson Way is the real estate Company linked to Liam Lawlor, the rezoning of which, campaigners have said has led to Carrickmines Junction being redesigned in the manner “that has led to the needless destruction of the Carrickmines site.”

Demonisation of Plaintiff – ‘Pleased to meet you…’
This current challenge goes ahead after the recent demonisation by a section of the country’s mainstream media where the plaintiff, Mr Michael Mulcreevy, -was among other things, likened to Gerry Adams – simply because he has a beard and originally hails from Belfast. That groundbreaking piece of journalism was in ‘Ireland on Sunday’ last weekend, and was written by Ann Lucey and Ronald Quinlan.

Other articles that seemed to border on incitement appeared predominantly in ‘Independent Media’ organs. In the ‘Herald’ Deirdre Crowley described Mulcreevy’s council-built Co. Kerry house as his ‘large rented house’ under the hysterical headline which screamed ‘A million miles from traffic hell’.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Reportage In ‘The Independent’
Meanwhile in the ‘Independent’, the Environment Correspondent, Treacy Hogan, wrote under a headline that screamed “The Real Victim In This Is You - The Taxpayer”. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and instead Treacy lamented how Carrickmines court actions have led to “the cost of the 11km South-Eastern Motorway has soared from 145M Euros to 195M due to the delay of more than a year.”

Never mind that as far back as September 17, 2002, in the Irish Times, Tim O’Brien warned that the M50 would be delayed by a year due to contractual disagreements between Dun Laoghaire Council and the builders, Ascon. So that accounts for the delays, but what about the costs? The Independent declared that the costs were 50M as a result of the delays arising out of the castle dispute, and that the total cost was now going to be 145M. Of course the amusement here is that it is only as recent as last May in the Irish Times that it was reported that the cost of “the South Eastern Motorway, (has) a total value of some E.700 million”. So then, at least the price has dropped from 700M to 195M!

How on earth did the Independent contrive a 50M figure - when according to Dun Laoghaire Councils own spin-doctors, they put the figure at “about 10 million”? Yes, indeed “the real victim here is you the taxpayer”, or at least any Independent reader who was hoodwinked into believing such a load of potentially defamatory codswallop.

The Real Victim Here Is… The Truth!
Peculiarly, given their fixation with the costs, Independent Media forgot to mention that Irish Infrastructure costs, whether its Luas or the Calastrava Joyce Bridge, tend to be 4-500% over budget and rarely – if ever – come in on time. But then again, the Independent also omitted to mention that only before Christmas did Dun Laoghaire Council decide to substantially change the M50 junction at Lehaunstown, at the behest of developers. That little matter of course raises the awkward question that if altering Lehaunstown Junction at this late stage doesn’t delay the M50, why wasn’t Carrickmines remedied over a year ago when the dispute first became public?

Yet rather than addressing that issue, or quoting the leading academics who stated the archaeological value of the site ‘is on par with Woodquay’, “Independent” newspapers simply tried to belittle the plaintiff as “trying to halt the road”. This is despite that Mr Mulcreevy has constantly re-iterated that they want to see the road completed – but around the Monument, as was case in the original plan.

One awaits with interest then, not only the outcome on Thursday, but also to see what, if any, measures those named as being involved with Carrickmines take in order to redress the way that their names have been very publicly dragged through the mud. This writer notes that Ireland does not yet have a Press Complaints Commission…But then again Minister Michael McDowell may just have found an assisting case emerging from the most unlikely of quarters.

Tara Hill
(copyright 2004)

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Comments (5 of 5)

Progress? Expertise?

by R. Isible

Sat Aug 21, 2004 01:58

QUOTE: "You people need to realise that you cannot stand in the way of progress of our state."

Huh? Wasting the public purse on building roads while there's still no rail decent rail service to the majority of destinations in Ireland isn't "progress" except for the (foreign owned and controlled) automobile and oil industry.

QUOTE: " It is obivious that the majority of protestors have no technical knowlege of the complexities of motorway construction."

Is it obvious? Are you an expert in Carrickmines protestors? And anyway, even if that's true, how on earth does it have any bearing on whether or not irreplaceable archaelogical sites should be destroyed? There are lots of other situations where people have no knowledge of the minutiae of _how_ bad things are going to happen to them, but they know they don't want the outcome.

QUOTE: "If these people were asked to design a complex motorway scheme from a purely environmental perspective they would'nt have a clue where to start."

And if you were asked to design a simple argument it's pretty obvious that you'd blunder right in a make a mess of it without stopping to think. Genius.

QUOTE: "I have worked on the design of many motorways and environmental and heritage considerations are always paramount."

I was the Sultan of Bessarabia and I produced a mission statement taking these complex factors into account. Later, when ruling over the extended interplanetary empire that included the objects referred to as "Saturn" and "Jupiter" by you earth-people I oversaw working groups that considered these desiderata during our projected 4-year implementation proposals.

QUOTE: "The route throught Carrickmines is the only feasible option so let it proceed !! At the end of the day the route will proceed so why waste yor time ?"

Brilliant, a cogent piece of logic if ever I saw one. Well done.

QUOTE: "Get off the case of the M50 through Carrickmines, get a life and start contributing in a positive manner to our great and prospering nation. In any case who cared or who really know about Carrickmines before all of this??"

Either contribute information or rational argument or else don't bother wasting electrons by typing tripe such as above. Indymedia.ie is a news-service, not a place for people that are simultaneously rude, bored, ignorant and ineffective. Maybe you're not all the above but you do a good job at imitating it when you type stuff like that.

ALLOW M50 to PROCEED!!

by Paul Fegan - Kilkenny Conservation Awarenwss

Sat Aug 21, 2004 01:47

iepms at eircom dot net

You people need to realise that you cannot stand in the way of progress of our state. It is obivious that the majority of protestors have no technical knowlege of the complexities of motorway construction. If these people were asked to design a complex motorway scheme from a purely environmental perspective they would'nt have a clue where to start.
I have worked on the design of many motorways and environmental and heritage considerations are always paramount.
The route throught Carrickmines is the only feasible option so let it proceed !!
At the end of the day the route will proceed so why waste yor time ?
Get off the case of the M50 through Carrickmines, get a life and start contributing in a positive manner to our great and prospering nation.
In any case who cared or who really know about Carrickmines before all of this??

Another small Victory for Carrickmines Protesters

by ec

Tue Jan 27, 2004 17:34

(16:10) The Supreme Court has overturned a High Court ruling in relation to the destruction of the medieval Carrickmines Castle site in South Dublin and has granted protestors the right to take a judicial review.

The appeal will centre on whether the Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, acted within the law when he granted consent for the destruction of the site.

Conservationists will return to the Supreme Court tomorrow in the hope of securing an injunction preventing Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Council and the National Roads Authority conducting any further work at the site until a determination is reached on the appeal.

Correction

Sun Jan 18, 2004 21:54

tarahill001 at yahoo dot ie

Please read as 195M in the 6th paragraph where it says going to be 145M - ie "The Independent declared that ...the total cost was now going to be 145M' should read '...was now going to be 195M'.

Tara.

450 million euro plan

by fat cat property developper

Sun Jan 18, 2004 16:39

well it was clear in Thursdays Irish Times Jan 15 last week why the roundabout needs to be so big.

The the front cover of the commercial section shows a 3D model of the 450 million euro commercial centre that Park Developments have obviously been planning for a long time! They were just waiting for the judge to give his pathetic ruling that the objection was too late.

What sort of a judge is he? Can he not examine the details of the case instead of just saying "Oh you were late, sorry"

In terms of the motorway being delayed - why havent they finished work on the stretch beyond Ballinteer?

Nothing is holding that up?

And then the irony, or double standards, in Saturdays Independant there is a photo of Sheamus Brennan and some school kids holding a big check. Its a promotion for the "Building for the future" program the govt are promoting for school kids. Its to encourage children to recognise the heritage around them!!!!

The same minister who wants the M50 built over Carrickmines Castle!!!

Schools can do projects on their favorite heritage site or building.

It would be great if there were loads of projects submitted about the 12th Century castle at Carrickmines!!

By the way when is De Rossa coming back from Europe with the cavalry?

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Carrickmines - 'They havent gone away you know.....'

Comments (5 of 5)