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Full Prosecution Now - Ringfort Destruction
 national |
environment |
news report
 Tuesday August 10, 2010 15:15 by Carmel Diviney - www.taraskryne.com
Support the call for a full prosecution of those who destroy our heritage. About 35,000 ring fort sites are currently identifiable in the Irish landscape – they are clearly marked on Ordnance Survey 6“ maps.
Of these, only about 250 ring forts have so far been subjected to archaeological excavation. How many we retain protected and preserved is up to us. Write letters to Gormley in support of the call from the Friends of the Irish Environment to bear the full weight of the law down upon the people responsible for this destruction.
 One of two Ringforts destroyed in the Kilmurray area. Photo Irish Independent today. INQUIRY AFTER TWO RINGFORTS DESTROYED
THE Department of the Environment has launched an investigation into the complete destruction of two ancient ring-forts.
Senior archaeologists from its National Monuments section are liaising with gardaí in Co Cork as part of the probe.
It was launched following works on farmland in the village of Kilmurry near Macroom, Co Cork, on which the two recorded monuments were located.
Ring-forts are oval or circular fortified settlements or farmsteads that were built mostly during the Early Christian and Iron Age periods.
They date from about 600-BC to about 1,000-AD and some were still inhabited up until the 1700s.
They were owned by wealthy individuals who built houses and kept cattle inside the earthen ditches.
The wealthier the individual, the more ditches were built around the outside.
There are about 100,000 such structures recorded across Ireland and the two at the centre of this investigation were considered among the region's finer examples.
One was oval and measured almost 60m in an east-west direction, 48m in a north-south direction, and was enclosed by a two-metre high earthen bank.
Archaeologists had found the remains of cultivation ridges crossing its interior.
The other ring-fort was circular and slightly smaller, measuring just more than 33 metres, and was surrounded by a two-metre high earthen ditch. It featured numerous cattle gaps across its bank.
However, both structures have been completely levelled. No above-ground trace remains. All their earthen banks have been removed and filled in.
Under the terms of National Monuments Legislation, landowners are required to give at least four week's notice to the Department of the Environment about their intention to carry out works near recorded monuments. This did not happen in this case.
The Friends of the Irish Environment group has now written to Environment Minister John Gormley calling for the full weight of the law to be brought to bear in this case.
"While the vast majority of farmers and land owners have the greatest respect for our archaeological heritage, often at their own expense, there remain elements in the farming community who believe that they can destroy these sites at will because of the wide-spread historic lack of enforcement," spokesman Tony Lowes said.
"The full weight of the law must be brought to bear in this case. The message must go out across Ireland that however few these individuals are, they will not be tolerated and the national heritage will be protected."
By Eoin English
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, August 09, 2010
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Comments (12 of 12)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Letters to John Gormley- address at link below.
Thank you.
Hmmmmn dont know why that link didnt publish. You will get Gormley's email address at this one below- if it publishes!
Friends of the Irish Environment was formed by a group of environmental activists in 1997 who felt that European law was not being recognised in Ireland.
Initial meetings were informal in Dubin's Central Hotel Library Bar. But FIE soon determined to become a company in order to establish credibility and be able to bring legal challenges in the Irish Courts. The Company, which has seven subscribers, acts as the formal structure for an active network of volunteers who try and fulfil the Company's goals:
• monitor the full implementation of, and to assist in the development of, European law;
• work for changes in the Irish planning laws;
• encourage the implementation of the right to full public participation and access to justice;
• provide assistance to individuals, local groups, and the wider public in understanding environmental issues;
• seek proper implementation of environmental and planning law to support sustainable communities including the pursuit of concerns and cases in both the built and the natural environment.
FIE welcomes help of all kind; bring your own ideas or look through our website and see where you think you might be able to assist. We work almost entirely through email lists, but have ‘Weekends' and events to meet the wider public. Mail us or give us a call. That's what we were set up for.
Contact details: International + 353 (0) 27 74771 / Mobile + 353 (0) 87 2176316
Mail: admin@friendsoftheirishenvironment.net
Agreed. This is an outrage and the vandals must be prosecuted.
Curse Of The Fairies
- exclusive, expert predicts dire consequences over destruction of site,
Government faces wrath of the Little People over Tara M3 road
By - Tom Prendeville.
The Government was warned last night that they run the risk of bringing the Curse of Tara on itself if it continues demolishing fairy forts in the Tara Valley in their quest to build a motorway.
One of the world's leading experts on Irish folklore and Leprechauns, Eddie Lenihan, warns that all connected with the destruction of the ancient monuments along the route were now to proceed at their peril.
Already the "curse" has claimed the career of Minister Dick Roche who lost his job within 24 hours of signing a decree to demolish a ring fort at Lismullin, near Tara, that stands in the way of the motorway.
The previous day, Trevor Sargent - who promised to protect Tara but could not persuade Fianna Fáil to change the road route - resigned as Green Party leader.
"It is a scandal what they are doing. But will they take any notice? I don't think so", said Eddie.
"Whatever happens to the [the Government] would not surprise me. It is the consequences for the innocent motorists - the people should be warned about this now. Things will only get worse, and the Greens will lose out big time".
In recent years, many fairy forts have been destroyed to make way for major new highways. However, it was always a taboo to interfere with these forts, with bad luck predicted as a result.
Famously, in 1999 a fairy fort was demolished to make way for a bypass near Shannon town.
Eddie told the Sunday World of the consequences that followed: "At Latoon bypass all misfortune followed, terrible things happened. An archaeologist and several workmen died. Why do you think there are so many unexplained accidents? These are perfectly engineered roads with excellent visibility. It's what a lot of the old people would believe, but you would be laughed at for putting forward such a view. But then again maybe the old people are right".
Controversy
The Quarryvale controversy, which has marred the reputations of many once prominent citizens and is now the subject of the Mahon Tribunal, was built on a fairy fort which was demolished to make way for a shopping centre.
"Look at the fallout from this and all the people up before that tribunal", said Eddie.
"It is disgusting. At the end of the day, the motorway through Tara is only another road. In Finland and Iceland, the Government takes these things very seriously. You are not allowed to build over fairy paths or sites associated with them", Eddie added.
Clare-based Eddie, a folklore expert, has written 14 books on the topic.
In May 1999, Eddie made worldwide headlines when he stopped a multi-million euro motorway bypass in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, which would have led to the demolition of a sacred fairy Whitethorn tree.
Workmen, fearful of disturbing the fairies, downed tools and refused to do any more work on the road project. The incident was later picked up by the New York Times and NBC, which led to a global media stampede descending upon the tiny village.
Under severe pressure, Clare County Council finally relented and redirected the road around the Whitethorn tree instead. To this day the tree - believed to have magical properties - sits in the centre of the road on a grassy knoll surrounded by a small fence.
"I believe that in very troubled estates you will find they were built over fairy paths and forts. Some of the things I have heard would set your hair standing and would make you think. If you are building a house on a fairy path, you are asking for trouble. The old people knew the landscape and never built in certain places, but now everything is being built on with no consideration for the history of the place".
Intriguingly, researchers in Holland who studied the history of troubled urban estates discovered that most of them had ancient fairy paths and fairy mounds levelled to make way for the buildings. The same estates later became rife with trouble.
Last night a spokesperson for the Government refused to comment on the "curse of Tara" and referred all queries to another department. "You will have to speak to the Minister of Transport who would speak on behalf of the Government on these issues".
War
A spokesperson, for the Minister of Transport, obviously oblivious to the seriousness of the situation, said: "You are joking me. We are not concerned about the fairies. Absolutely not".
The Little People, better known as Leprechauns, can be quite nasty if you turn on them. Last night the Cabinet was rumoured to be having a series of crisis talks after they learned the Little People had declared war on them. The Taoiseach is believed to be considering calling in the two smallest (in stature) Cabinet members, Willie O'Dea and Seamus Brennan, to try to intercede with the Little People.
© Sunday World, 24th. June 2007.
Whatever's your fancy I suppose but curses or not these monuments are supposed to be protected under law so whoever damages or destroys them should be punishable in a Court of Law.
insolent, atrocious,outrageous and criminal. I hope whoever is responsible is very heavily penalised even up to value of the total acerage of farmland they own.
This is not the first time in recent years that this has happened. As reported back in 2004 -see link below, the Dun Mor Celtic fort was bulldozed by a landowner on the Dingle Peninsula using a JCB.
Nothing was done about this because the party in power then and still in power, was about to go on the rampage itself and destroy our center piece of heritage in the years ahead up around Tara. So it is unlikely anything will be done now as it was then.
It is time for people to highlight the issues and protect our heritage because the government certainly has no interest in it.
See link below for the story on: Dun Mor Celtic fort Bulldozed
This guy has quite clearly broken the law. However, to prosecute under the National Monuments Act(s)... well, it has to be done by the state, so it's done by the State Solicitor.
Now then... and this happens a lot more than you'd like to imagine throughout the country, where the State Solicitor has invariably told the National Monuments Service that it can't prosecute. That's the National Monuments Service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. And who's the Minister then...? And who's the State Solicitor?
It's a fucked up country, but hey, it always has been. The land owner will get away with it but hopefully the fairies will get him in the end.
'Ignorance of your culture is not considered cool', The Residents, 1978.
I recognise that there are farmers still left there who actually have a conscience when it comes to culture & heritage. I can't agree with the statement that most of them are this way inclined , especially the larger ones. As far as I can tell from my own experience their connection to the land is only what they can get out of it and an urge to create a carpet of uniform green fields where we should be planting oak trees. The destruction of these ring forts while tragic does not surprise me , I've seen bogland habitat 'reclaimed' for housing sites and for grazing land almost as if an idle bog is just a potential field and too much to bear for these fellas. I don't wish harm on anyone but the perpetrators won't get any good luck from their actions.
this man has knocked 5 forts in total but only 2 are mentioned!!! 600 acres and couldnt keep a few forts total greediness and ignorance
..is in the term 'land owner'.
Occupier would be a more accurate word. The implications of absolute licence in ownership wrongfoots the debate from square one. They do not own the earth just because their granddaddies killed and robbed more effectively than ours.