Judgement on Costs in the Hill of Tara Case.

dublin | environment | event notice Thursday March 09, 2006 21:23 by C Murray - at home dotliath at gmail dot com n/a 0877765289

Justice Symth will decide the issue of costs today.

The emphatic judgement against the claimant V. Salafia ,in the case
seeking judicial review against the granting of 38 licences by Minister
Dick Roche along the M3 Kells to Clonee will continue today, when a
decision on costs in the case will be handed down.

The judgement threw out all the claimant's petitions in favour of the respondents:
the NRA,The Minister for Environment and Meath County Council. Two factual disputes remain between the claimant and the respondents:

1. The ambit of the Tara complex as a heritage site was thrown out because the Minister is not bound by legislation to recognise it as such. The Roads Act 1993, 1998 and the National Monuments Act 1930-2004 do not contain a definiton of landscape as a National Monument.

The State contended that the two are mutually exclusive, a landscape can contain monuments but they are not seen as an integral whole or inter-connected.indeed the State contends that no national monument was discovered during excavations.

Of the 38 sites excavated,3 were medieval or post medieval,9 were
19th century and the remainder pre-historic.

2. Second factual dispute: The sites at Barronstown and Collierstown
were declared as national monuments by three expert witnesses. Their oral evidence was disallowed . Signed affidavitts were disallowed as evidence under matters arising.

Other issues such as the duty of the Minister to invoke a section 14(a)4 in the light
of the discovery of two National Monuments on the route during excavations have not happened.This is published elsewhere.
I will post the time of the costs hearing and a news report on the day.