Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Bremore.
The small coastal strip between Bremore and Gormonstown is among the most beautiful and unspoiled coastal areas left on the east coast of Ireland. Along the shoreline are a series of Neolithic burial mounds which seem to be connected and may be older than similar mounds on the bend of the Boyne and closely connected to them. It has been claimed that Bremore may be the landing point for the first organized settlers to Ireland, here they lived and buried their dead. Close by are some of the oldest sites we have, including Ballyrothery, Knocknaggin, Four Knocks, New Grange, Dowth, Knowth and of course the Hill of Tara, twenty miles inland where the settlers of Bremore may have later established their sacred center. It is the sort of place most countries would cherish and a picture-post card view of what the world loves about our land, it provides a much needed amenity, it is home to much wildlife and migrating water fowl and its waters are home to rare seal colonies.
However all this may soon be bulldozed to make room for the development of a massive deep water port and the other infrastructure that this will bring.Drogheda Port Company have launched a process to have this port included under the Strategic Infrastructure Act and if they are successful they can use this act to bypass much of the environmental and heritage laws that could protect the area. Early this year when it was pointed out just how rich the area was in archeology the planners moved the centre of the planned port a mile to the north but the area in general seems destined to be developed.
The managing director of Treasury Holdings, the company who plans to build the port, is on record as saying that the heritage “can be worked around”.
However why Drogheda Port needs to expand has not been clarified. The ten state ports in Ireland are all under performing and need aid, industrial production is in free fall, jobs are leaving and our economy may never again reach the heights obtained when this development was first planned. Experts tell us that the world of production will move to Asia and that it is a service and smart economy which will survive here yet the plans for this port proceeds as though the opposite is true.
A Friend of Bremorte now asks you to help!
We wish instead to see an independent study based on the economic now, on the reality of the future, before a development is allowed which will again wreck our history, heritage and environment.
We believe we have a right to our heritage and the sites connected to it. These rights are enshrined in the UN Deceleration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a declaration signed by this present government in 2007.
We believe the proposed development may harm or destroy the environment of this area, including burial complexes of immense age, meaning and value.
It may mean grave desecration, something which is contrary to our culture and beliefs.
We ask you to please get involved and help ensure that the common good prevails and not the good and benefit of the few; a template which has caused so much destruction in Ireland and one which we tax payers have to pay for and which has landed us in the economic and environmental mess we are now in.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
SaveBremore/http://www.indymedia.ie/openwire?search_text=Bremore
However all this may soon be bulldozed to make room for the development of a massive deep water port and the other infrastructure that this will bring.Drogheda Port Company have launched a process to have this port included under the Strategic Infrastructure Act and if they are successful they can use this act to bypass much of the environmental and heritage laws that could protect the area. Early this year when it was pointed out just how rich the area was in archeology the planners moved the centre of the planned port a mile to the north but the area in general seems destined to be developed.
The managing director of Treasury Holdings, the company who plans to build the port, is on record as saying that the heritage “can be worked around”.
However why Drogheda Port needs to expand has not been clarified. The ten state ports in Ireland are all under performing and need aid, industrial production is in free fall, jobs are leaving and our economy may never again reach the heights obtained when this development was first planned. Experts tell us that the world of production will move to Asia and that it is a service and smart economy which will survive here yet the plans for this port proceeds as though the opposite is true.
A Friend of Bremorte now asks you to help!
We wish instead to see an independent study based on the economic now, on the reality of the future, before a development is allowed which will again wreck our history, heritage and environment.
We believe we have a right to our heritage and the sites connected to it. These rights are enshrined in the UN Deceleration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a declaration signed by this present government in 2007.
We believe the proposed development may harm or destroy the environment of this area, including burial complexes of immense age, meaning and value.
It may mean grave desecration, something which is contrary to our culture and beliefs.
We ask you to please get involved and help ensure that the common good prevails and not the good and benefit of the few; a template which has caused so much destruction in Ireland and one which we tax payers have to pay for and which has landed us in the economic and environmental mess we are now in.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
SaveBremore/http://www.indymedia.ie/openwire?search_text=Bremore
Monday, September 21, 2009
At Bremore.
On Sunday 20th. I went for a long walk along a beach.
I started at Gormonstown and finished at Balbriggan.
I wanted to see for myself if there were any basis to some stories that had been floated, all connected to Bremore and the planned deep water port there.
They were
That there is the remains of a burial mound, partly collapsed onto the beach near the Delvin River, with some of the chamber stones still visible up on the cliff face.
That there are stones and the remains of a burial chamber still visible out on the beach.
That there is a very large burial mound/site/structure yet unrecognised by our monuments people and largely unknown south of Bremore.
I started on the lane across the road at the Huntsman Inn pub which leads down to the sea at Gormonstown. It was on this lane that I seen bulldozers at work in July, on a very large site, work which I felt was connected to the new port. The site is still there, now badly overgrown with ragwort and weeds and two bulldozers sit away in a corner but there does not seem to be any work being done now. The gate was also open.
The next field belongs to the Gormonstown Motorcycle Club and bikes were racing all around it. The lane is badly littered and being used as a litter tip as well as an entrance to the beach. At the lane’s end work has been done on the dunes, they were bulldozed but for what reason I could not say. The beach was largely deserted.
Close to where the Delvin River flows out onto the beach I came to the area where the collapsed mounds are supposed to be. Someone, perhaps seven Prof. Eogan has mentioned this in one article in the Irish Times ??? and rumour has it that a local farmer came and collected some of the fallen stones and still has them in his shed. People are supposed to have seen them and the stones are supposed to be richly decorated.
It is clear that the cliff face has fallen down here, there is evidence of this and a close inspection also shows a few stones still standing up on the cliff face itself. Directly below them area few more lying on the side of the beach. However a few East European men were using them to cook meat on and so me and my camera were made to feel unwelcome. A closer inspection would be needed from both above and below and all I can say now is that there is evidence of serious erosion on the cliff, stones are visible and also on the beach directly below.
About a hundred meters out in the water are two large stones but I doubt if they make up part of a circle or could be what remains of a burial chamber. If someone were to call and look when the tide is out then perhaps clarity could be gained here too.
From there I walked on towards Bremore.
The field in which the mounds sit had been planted with barley, this has now been harvested and so it is easier to see just what is what. However I was very surprised to find a space marked out close to the end of the field and about six hundred meters from the main mound complex. It looks exactly like the three other satellite mounds surrounding the main mound. Local history says that there were five mounds at Bremore making up a cemetery complex. This has been documented as far back as one can go and five mounds are given in all literature that I have read, it was therefore a puzzle to me to find till now only four mounds. Here I believe is the fifth. In a perplexing survey in 1960 Ryann came to the conclusion that there were five mounds but that they were all under the main mound and this lunacy has since held sway. The main mound is the one closest to the beach, the others are at varying lengths away from it. All of them have a circular or oblong shape with a line of large stones at there base. Can one not assume the reason they look smaller today is because the gravel, stones and clay used to build them has since been taken away? All burial mounds that I have seen are of the same design. A passage leads into a central area which is always Kreutzform and with the entire structure set below the surface, the standing stones that make it up coming up to ground level. From there they are/were covered and heaped over with soil and stones making up a mound. If farmers had a need for gravel and stone, as they had over the last six thousand years, would it not be safe to assume that they removed what was already above ground, i.e. the mounds. The nearest ones to the roads old, paths etc were always first to be removed and the ones furthest away last. Is this why the mound close to the beach is left as it was. I think this is the story of Bremore and I feel it urgent now for a proper archaeological investigation to take place here and that all five structures be examined. There are five mounds documented and I believe now that five remain.
A local woman I met told me that the field was bought by Treasury Holdings in 2007 and they marked out the site with red flags. If so and if Treasury are bust (see my other posting) then it may mean Nama will soon own the site, i.e. us taxpayers will own the land at Bremore. If so should we allow it be sold again? This must be worked on now.
It should be noted too that care was taken with the harvesting and the mounds, all five of them, were not damaged in any way. Our agitation was not in vain.
Further south and towards Balbriggan I came across a cairn, know locally as “the sailor’s grave”. It is old but new stones have being placed upon it, many with people’s names written on them.
Then about a mile south of Bremore and practically on the coast I came upon a site, fenced off and left wild. It looks like a carbon copy of Bremore, much larger and rising about five meters but covered in scrub. I tried its interior but I did not get very far in, it is full of Whitethorn bushes, alive with wildlife and so impossible to tell what it really is. Nobody I asked even knew of its existence. It may be a fenced off farmers spoil heap, an old fishing site or a very ancient burial site. However just a mile from Bremore and looking like it does it needs urgent-urgent investigation too.
Closer to Ballybriggan I seen the remains of cliff cottages, supposingly fishermen’s homes of long ago now falling into the sea. Children were born here, played on the beach and slept warm and safe in their beds as the storms raged just outside their doors. Why the last traces of these very early houses are not protected I do not know.
Most people I met on the beach were foreigners and at best dimly aware of where they were.
The Irish, with the exception of one lady, just did not know nor care. About plans for the beach, port, history, heritage? No! It is as if their environment, past and future are not important, not theirs, but for sale for a simple job.
Balbriggan has turned black and leaving race out of it I cannot see how we have benefit from this invasion. How can it enhance us to have a brown population growing at an alarming rate and relying for their future on a collapsing social welfare system and on an economy that has been built on sand? The tiny black faces looking out of the ever present prams will hardly care about our culture or Bremore either, when we ourselves will not.
Thank God for the recession.
I started at Gormonstown and finished at Balbriggan.
I wanted to see for myself if there were any basis to some stories that had been floated, all connected to Bremore and the planned deep water port there.
They were
That there is the remains of a burial mound, partly collapsed onto the beach near the Delvin River, with some of the chamber stones still visible up on the cliff face.
That there are stones and the remains of a burial chamber still visible out on the beach.
That there is a very large burial mound/site/structure yet unrecognised by our monuments people and largely unknown south of Bremore.
I started on the lane across the road at the Huntsman Inn pub which leads down to the sea at Gormonstown. It was on this lane that I seen bulldozers at work in July, on a very large site, work which I felt was connected to the new port. The site is still there, now badly overgrown with ragwort and weeds and two bulldozers sit away in a corner but there does not seem to be any work being done now. The gate was also open.
The next field belongs to the Gormonstown Motorcycle Club and bikes were racing all around it. The lane is badly littered and being used as a litter tip as well as an entrance to the beach. At the lane’s end work has been done on the dunes, they were bulldozed but for what reason I could not say. The beach was largely deserted.
Close to where the Delvin River flows out onto the beach I came to the area where the collapsed mounds are supposed to be. Someone, perhaps seven Prof. Eogan has mentioned this in one article in the Irish Times ??? and rumour has it that a local farmer came and collected some of the fallen stones and still has them in his shed. People are supposed to have seen them and the stones are supposed to be richly decorated.
It is clear that the cliff face has fallen down here, there is evidence of this and a close inspection also shows a few stones still standing up on the cliff face itself. Directly below them area few more lying on the side of the beach. However a few East European men were using them to cook meat on and so me and my camera were made to feel unwelcome. A closer inspection would be needed from both above and below and all I can say now is that there is evidence of serious erosion on the cliff, stones are visible and also on the beach directly below.
About a hundred meters out in the water are two large stones but I doubt if they make up part of a circle or could be what remains of a burial chamber. If someone were to call and look when the tide is out then perhaps clarity could be gained here too.
From there I walked on towards Bremore.
The field in which the mounds sit had been planted with barley, this has now been harvested and so it is easier to see just what is what. However I was very surprised to find a space marked out close to the end of the field and about six hundred meters from the main mound complex. It looks exactly like the three other satellite mounds surrounding the main mound. Local history says that there were five mounds at Bremore making up a cemetery complex. This has been documented as far back as one can go and five mounds are given in all literature that I have read, it was therefore a puzzle to me to find till now only four mounds. Here I believe is the fifth. In a perplexing survey in 1960 Ryann came to the conclusion that there were five mounds but that they were all under the main mound and this lunacy has since held sway. The main mound is the one closest to the beach, the others are at varying lengths away from it. All of them have a circular or oblong shape with a line of large stones at there base. Can one not assume the reason they look smaller today is because the gravel, stones and clay used to build them has since been taken away? All burial mounds that I have seen are of the same design. A passage leads into a central area which is always Kreutzform and with the entire structure set below the surface, the standing stones that make it up coming up to ground level. From there they are/were covered and heaped over with soil and stones making up a mound. If farmers had a need for gravel and stone, as they had over the last six thousand years, would it not be safe to assume that they removed what was already above ground, i.e. the mounds. The nearest ones to the roads old, paths etc were always first to be removed and the ones furthest away last. Is this why the mound close to the beach is left as it was. I think this is the story of Bremore and I feel it urgent now for a proper archaeological investigation to take place here and that all five structures be examined. There are five mounds documented and I believe now that five remain.
A local woman I met told me that the field was bought by Treasury Holdings in 2007 and they marked out the site with red flags. If so and if Treasury are bust (see my other posting) then it may mean Nama will soon own the site, i.e. us taxpayers will own the land at Bremore. If so should we allow it be sold again? This must be worked on now.
It should be noted too that care was taken with the harvesting and the mounds, all five of them, were not damaged in any way. Our agitation was not in vain.
Further south and towards Balbriggan I came across a cairn, know locally as “the sailor’s grave”. It is old but new stones have being placed upon it, many with people’s names written on them.
Then about a mile south of Bremore and practically on the coast I came upon a site, fenced off and left wild. It looks like a carbon copy of Bremore, much larger and rising about five meters but covered in scrub. I tried its interior but I did not get very far in, it is full of Whitethorn bushes, alive with wildlife and so impossible to tell what it really is. Nobody I asked even knew of its existence. It may be a fenced off farmers spoil heap, an old fishing site or a very ancient burial site. However just a mile from Bremore and looking like it does it needs urgent-urgent investigation too.
Closer to Ballybriggan I seen the remains of cliff cottages, supposingly fishermen’s homes of long ago now falling into the sea. Children were born here, played on the beach and slept warm and safe in their beds as the storms raged just outside their doors. Why the last traces of these very early houses are not protected I do not know.
Most people I met on the beach were foreigners and at best dimly aware of where they were.
The Irish, with the exception of one lady, just did not know nor care. About plans for the beach, port, history, heritage? No! It is as if their environment, past and future are not important, not theirs, but for sale for a simple job.
Balbriggan has turned black and leaving race out of it I cannot see how we have benefit from this invasion. How can it enhance us to have a brown population growing at an alarming rate and relying for their future on a collapsing social welfare system and on an economy that has been built on sand? The tiny black faces looking out of the ever present prams will hardly care about our culture or Bremore either, when we ourselves will not.
Thank God for the recession.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Bremore For Me.
Take a small country like Ireland, in depth, with a sinking economy, its people been asked to shoulder the burden of what a small poisoned elite created and a bill looming before us to undo this, a bill which dwarfs anything our future can pay for.
A land with eleven ports all of which are at present operating under capacity, many of whom are so starved of cash that they crumbled and fall into the sea and all of them looking to government for a plan of existence.
So what does our government do?
It plans to build a new, super all inclusive and centralised port at Bremore, wrecking as it does this the environment of the entire area, wrecking the recognised burial places of our first ancestors, wrecking the job prospects of the Dublin Port workers and wrecking the hopes that the smaller ports around Ireland had clung to; the hope that one day our government would decentralise shipping and finally put into place smaller specialised ports leading to a safe, ecofriendly and sustainable industry.
A land with eleven ports all of which are at present operating under capacity, many of whom are so starved of cash that they crumbled and fall into the sea and all of them looking to government for a plan of existence.
So what does our government do?
It plans to build a new, super all inclusive and centralised port at Bremore, wrecking as it does this the environment of the entire area, wrecking the recognised burial places of our first ancestors, wrecking the job prospects of the Dublin Port workers and wrecking the hopes that the smaller ports around Ireland had clung to; the hope that one day our government would decentralise shipping and finally put into place smaller specialised ports leading to a safe, ecofriendly and sustainable industry.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Rain.
I lay awake last night listening to the hammering rain. A fool can see that our earth is deeply ill, just look at the rain that is falling. The fields are water logged, crops are rotting in the fields, the farmers associations are saying that we may have to give up planting corn etc, every expert worth their salt is pressing warning buttons and flashing the red lights yet in Paddyland we build, build, build.
It’s as if we live on another planet, in a parallel universe where no such problems exist.
I will say again; global warming causes more water to evaporate at the tropics, this water is then carried as clouds and falls as rain in the temperate zones. Its not rocket science, watch a kettle boil. It rises as steam in a cloud then as it cools it falls as condensation.
This is the system of hydrology working as always and as it always will. Global warming can only mean for us in the northern hemisphere and on an Island more and more and more rain. That will undo us.
It’s as if we live on another planet, in a parallel universe where no such problems exist.
I will say again; global warming causes more water to evaporate at the tropics, this water is then carried as clouds and falls as rain in the temperate zones. Its not rocket science, watch a kettle boil. It rises as steam in a cloud then as it cools it falls as condensation.
This is the system of hydrology working as always and as it always will. Global warming can only mean for us in the northern hemisphere and on an Island more and more and more rain. That will undo us.
Possible
Last Spring I watched Fingal CoCo search for a leak in a sewerage pipe. They had a small machine like a children’s toy which was made from steel, with steel wheels, it had a tiny digital camera with lights attached to it and it was guided from a monitor on a truck by wires. It was sent a hundred meters up a pipe, crawling its way to where it found the leak, photographed it and then from the truck the point was marked and made ready for repair.
If they can use these machines for sewerage pipes why can’t they do likewise with burial mounds? Bremore they tell us is a possible burial cemetery; we know that it is a very, very old one and one that may be a sort of mothership for all that was to come at Tara/The Boyne valley/Brega, yet no one at Fingal CoCo seem to consider it worth even study.
Tens of thousands can be spent marking out possible sites for development but not a penny can be found for heritage, environmental protection or history. However if we really are that broke, if we really can’t afford normal non invasive archaeological equipment could we not borrow and make do with that machine mentioned above. Even for a week!
It would be perfectly possible to bore a small opening into the side of the main mounds at Bremore, Knocknagin etc, 100cm in diameter and feed the machine in, then move it around the interior, photographing what is there and thus finally documenting it for further interest or study. When finished the opening could be closed by blowing a mix of clay and powered cement into it, the moisture in the soil would cause the cement to expand and set and so the tomb would again be sealed, if necessary forever.
That is just one small but obtainable and cheep solution. If successful our heritage department could then buy just one of these machines and use it all across our land, they could examine ten sites per year and reach definite conclusions on them, on us and our past. The strange mystical beauty of our ancient art, artifacts etc could be made available to our children in photo form instead of leaving them to the destruction of gravediggers, road builders or farmers tractors which is now happening with increasing regularity. Could do, will do? No.
Bulldozers
I make no apologies for the fact that I am anti development, we have enough sites, factories shopping centers and ports lying idle that will do for the next three incarnations, we are now being forced to pay for them and so we need further development like we need cancer.
I also know that having planned a port at Bremore it will go ahead.
Remember there is an orbital road planned too, which will link in with it, the planning laws are soon to be changed, it used to be a five year planning application, if the development was not complete in five years then the permission was null and void, now they are going to amend that to having a planning application open for much longer, up to fifteen years maybe, so regardless how long it takes they will despoil that coast.
It is as if devils are driving them to do it. Don’t relax regardless of what the Greens or their hugging friends say, money has already moved in at Bremore, the bulldozers are next.
If they can use these machines for sewerage pipes why can’t they do likewise with burial mounds? Bremore they tell us is a possible burial cemetery; we know that it is a very, very old one and one that may be a sort of mothership for all that was to come at Tara/The Boyne valley/Brega, yet no one at Fingal CoCo seem to consider it worth even study.
Tens of thousands can be spent marking out possible sites for development but not a penny can be found for heritage, environmental protection or history. However if we really are that broke, if we really can’t afford normal non invasive archaeological equipment could we not borrow and make do with that machine mentioned above. Even for a week!
It would be perfectly possible to bore a small opening into the side of the main mounds at Bremore, Knocknagin etc, 100cm in diameter and feed the machine in, then move it around the interior, photographing what is there and thus finally documenting it for further interest or study. When finished the opening could be closed by blowing a mix of clay and powered cement into it, the moisture in the soil would cause the cement to expand and set and so the tomb would again be sealed, if necessary forever.
That is just one small but obtainable and cheep solution. If successful our heritage department could then buy just one of these machines and use it all across our land, they could examine ten sites per year and reach definite conclusions on them, on us and our past. The strange mystical beauty of our ancient art, artifacts etc could be made available to our children in photo form instead of leaving them to the destruction of gravediggers, road builders or farmers tractors which is now happening with increasing regularity. Could do, will do? No.
Bulldozers
I make no apologies for the fact that I am anti development, we have enough sites, factories shopping centers and ports lying idle that will do for the next three incarnations, we are now being forced to pay for them and so we need further development like we need cancer.
I also know that having planned a port at Bremore it will go ahead.
Remember there is an orbital road planned too, which will link in with it, the planning laws are soon to be changed, it used to be a five year planning application, if the development was not complete in five years then the permission was null and void, now they are going to amend that to having a planning application open for much longer, up to fifteen years maybe, so regardless how long it takes they will despoil that coast.
It is as if devils are driving them to do it. Don’t relax regardless of what the Greens or their hugging friends say, money has already moved in at Bremore, the bulldozers are next.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Objection Template.
I the undersigned wish to lodge an objection to the plans by Drogheda Port to develop a new port at Bremore, Co Dublin.
I believe that we have a right to our heritage and the sites connected to it, and to the sites connected to our history and mythology. I believe that our government must safeguard and protect these sites from damage and harm.
These rights are enshrined in the UN Deceleration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a declaration signed by this present government in 2007.
The proposed development at Bremore may harm or destroy sites and burial complexes of immense age, meaning and value. It may mean grave desecration, something which runs contrary to our culture and our beliefs. I object to this.
The proposed development will cause damage, harm and destruction to the ecology and environment on the coast at Bremore. I object to this.
The proposed development will rob Irish people living on the east coast of a much needed and valued recreational area. I object to this.
Signed
I believe that we have a right to our heritage and the sites connected to it, and to the sites connected to our history and mythology. I believe that our government must safeguard and protect these sites from damage and harm.
These rights are enshrined in the UN Deceleration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a declaration signed by this present government in 2007.
The proposed development at Bremore may harm or destroy sites and burial complexes of immense age, meaning and value. It may mean grave desecration, something which runs contrary to our culture and our beliefs. I object to this.
The proposed development will cause damage, harm and destruction to the ecology and environment on the coast at Bremore. I object to this.
The proposed development will rob Irish people living on the east coast of a much needed and valued recreational area. I object to this.
Signed
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Moving the Port.
Regardless on how they manipulate or change the plans the land at Bremore is now set for developements and if this is allowed the site cannot survive as it once was; a deeply special, spiritual and beautiful place connected to the very beginnings of us.
Behind this is the usual story of development and land speculation in Ireland. The planners say that a deepwater port is desperately needed to maintain and safeguard our economy and that the only place it can be built is at Bremore. The port at Dublin they say has reached its capacity and is no longer big enough. In tandem the Dublin Port Authority who own and runs Dublin Port are seeking planning permission to enlarged the port by filling in 54 acres of the bay along the coast of Clontarf. All this is know and in the news even if most people show little interest in it.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority seem content to work against their duty and play a double game, they allow a process run which may one day close the Dublin Docks and turn it into a large developer led complex of apartments, shops and marinas. They often seem to want the Port out of the way. Up to last year the board included Sean Fitzpatrick, the disgraced head of Anglo Irish Bank, as one of its directors. Its new chairman/woman is Prof. Niamh Brennan, lesser known as the wife of former PD boss Michael McDowell. It was his party, The Progressive Democrat Party who drew up the plans and announced the proposal to move Dublin port to Bremore. She was placed in the job this year by her supposed ideological arch enemy, the green man; John Gormley.
Noel Dempsy has also made it clear that he, as Minister for Transport, will give the go ahead to what is planned at Bremore even before he has seen the plans, he agreed to make changes to the harbour Act that would allow Drogheda Port Company to proceed and he has been pushing it silently for years. With a cast like that it should come as no surprise that environmental and heritage destruction is again being planned and dressed up as progress.
However it must not be like this.
The huge oil terminal at Dublin Docks must be eventually moved, this has been planed for years and the old Whitty Oil Refinery site in Cork has been mooted as one place where it could be rebuilt. There is a deep water port there too and as all oil tankers come up from the south it would be a natural place to reposition and build an oil depot. If that were to be done it would free up enough place for the Dublin Docks to expand where it is and Bremore could be left to tourists, walkers, heritage lovers and nature.
Also some years back private developer/s bought a large piece of reclaimed land, circa 13.5 ha at Dublin Docklands and named it the East Point Business Park. Phase one of this development opened in 1996 but for some reason many of the units were left to lie empty. Today much of this site still stands empty. There is enough room there for expansion, it could be compulsory purchased if need be and thus the Dublin port enlarged without the destruction of Bremore. This though is not even mentioned. As to how or why this site was sold is not discussed. It was known that that the Port was running out of space but no one apparently came to the conclusion that this land might be needed.
The oil terminal cannot exist much longer in the middle of a city, its carries a huge pollution, explosion and fire risk but it now seems that if it is to be moved then it moves out to Bremore too.
All ships coming to Ireland from Europe, Asia and Africa, except the Scandinavian and German ones, come up from the south and so the building of a deep water port, if needed, should take place on the southern coast and/or on the west coast to facilitate the gigantic trade coming from the Americas. Again there are deep water ports all along the west coast, the deepest and largest being the one at Foynes near Limerick. This though is largely unused today and there are no plans to built it up.
It would make sense to move the oil depot and if need be the East Point Business Park out and away from the city, then build the extension of the port on the freed up lands there. These sites sit side by side and were once part of the same port land take.
Alternatively or in tandem many of the smaller ports along our coasts could be enlarged and have them specialize it different cargo's. Worldwide there is a move away from giant ports like the one planned at Bremore and to smaller specialized ones. The plans for Bremore again flies in the face of what we should be doing but the people doing it are the same people, names and faces behind the disaster we as tax payers are now slowly having to pay for.
Those who have bought the land at Bremore seem set to move on Bremore, it is a closed circle and one without debate. It is bald greed and ego driving an unwanted and unneeded development, the kind that has just destroyed our country and it beggars belief that is is to happen again. As at Tara so at Bremore too.
If they get to build on Bremore we will end up with another priceless part of our heritage gone, more of our land will go under cement, it will further pollute the east coast, bring further development and with it population growth and suburbanization right in perhaps to the Hill of Tara itself, our old soul and centre.
"Europe's first slum, a role that won't be hard, with a cast of crooks and tarts".
Philip Larkin. Going Going Gone.
They will in all probability end up infilling Dublin Bay at Clontarf too, and this land together with the old oil terminal and the East Point Business Park land will then be sold on to developers and a sea of ugly unwanted cement will appear where the Dublin Docks used to be.
Acitivy like this will be used to kick start the poisoned model of economics that has just failed and ensnared us, it will push us ever deeper into their perverse ideal of progress and if it goes wrong again then we will be called to pay for it.
But do you want this?
Do you want to pay for their plunder, mistakes and corruption, do you want to lose whats left of our once special magical heritage? Do you want to see whats left of our land, environment and ecology being raped and ruined while they grow get fat on the profits and plan the next assault?
If not, if you feel strongly about this then please get involved in Bremore now. Do not wait like we waited at Tara, do not wait until it is too late to stop them.
Behind this is the usual story of development and land speculation in Ireland. The planners say that a deepwater port is desperately needed to maintain and safeguard our economy and that the only place it can be built is at Bremore. The port at Dublin they say has reached its capacity and is no longer big enough. In tandem the Dublin Port Authority who own and runs Dublin Port are seeking planning permission to enlarged the port by filling in 54 acres of the bay along the coast of Clontarf. All this is know and in the news even if most people show little interest in it.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority seem content to work against their duty and play a double game, they allow a process run which may one day close the Dublin Docks and turn it into a large developer led complex of apartments, shops and marinas. They often seem to want the Port out of the way. Up to last year the board included Sean Fitzpatrick, the disgraced head of Anglo Irish Bank, as one of its directors. Its new chairman/woman is Prof. Niamh Brennan, lesser known as the wife of former PD boss Michael McDowell. It was his party, The Progressive Democrat Party who drew up the plans and announced the proposal to move Dublin port to Bremore. She was placed in the job this year by her supposed ideological arch enemy, the green man; John Gormley.
Noel Dempsy has also made it clear that he, as Minister for Transport, will give the go ahead to what is planned at Bremore even before he has seen the plans, he agreed to make changes to the harbour Act that would allow Drogheda Port Company to proceed and he has been pushing it silently for years. With a cast like that it should come as no surprise that environmental and heritage destruction is again being planned and dressed up as progress.
However it must not be like this.
The huge oil terminal at Dublin Docks must be eventually moved, this has been planed for years and the old Whitty Oil Refinery site in Cork has been mooted as one place where it could be rebuilt. There is a deep water port there too and as all oil tankers come up from the south it would be a natural place to reposition and build an oil depot. If that were to be done it would free up enough place for the Dublin Docks to expand where it is and Bremore could be left to tourists, walkers, heritage lovers and nature.
Also some years back private developer/s bought a large piece of reclaimed land, circa 13.5 ha at Dublin Docklands and named it the East Point Business Park. Phase one of this development opened in 1996 but for some reason many of the units were left to lie empty. Today much of this site still stands empty. There is enough room there for expansion, it could be compulsory purchased if need be and thus the Dublin port enlarged without the destruction of Bremore. This though is not even mentioned. As to how or why this site was sold is not discussed. It was known that that the Port was running out of space but no one apparently came to the conclusion that this land might be needed.
The oil terminal cannot exist much longer in the middle of a city, its carries a huge pollution, explosion and fire risk but it now seems that if it is to be moved then it moves out to Bremore too.
All ships coming to Ireland from Europe, Asia and Africa, except the Scandinavian and German ones, come up from the south and so the building of a deep water port, if needed, should take place on the southern coast and/or on the west coast to facilitate the gigantic trade coming from the Americas. Again there are deep water ports all along the west coast, the deepest and largest being the one at Foynes near Limerick. This though is largely unused today and there are no plans to built it up.
It would make sense to move the oil depot and if need be the East Point Business Park out and away from the city, then build the extension of the port on the freed up lands there. These sites sit side by side and were once part of the same port land take.
Alternatively or in tandem many of the smaller ports along our coasts could be enlarged and have them specialize it different cargo's. Worldwide there is a move away from giant ports like the one planned at Bremore and to smaller specialized ones. The plans for Bremore again flies in the face of what we should be doing but the people doing it are the same people, names and faces behind the disaster we as tax payers are now slowly having to pay for.
Those who have bought the land at Bremore seem set to move on Bremore, it is a closed circle and one without debate. It is bald greed and ego driving an unwanted and unneeded development, the kind that has just destroyed our country and it beggars belief that is is to happen again. As at Tara so at Bremore too.
If they get to build on Bremore we will end up with another priceless part of our heritage gone, more of our land will go under cement, it will further pollute the east coast, bring further development and with it population growth and suburbanization right in perhaps to the Hill of Tara itself, our old soul and centre.
"Europe's first slum, a role that won't be hard, with a cast of crooks and tarts".
Philip Larkin. Going Going Gone.
They will in all probability end up infilling Dublin Bay at Clontarf too, and this land together with the old oil terminal and the East Point Business Park land will then be sold on to developers and a sea of ugly unwanted cement will appear where the Dublin Docks used to be.
Acitivy like this will be used to kick start the poisoned model of economics that has just failed and ensnared us, it will push us ever deeper into their perverse ideal of progress and if it goes wrong again then we will be called to pay for it.
But do you want this?
Do you want to pay for their plunder, mistakes and corruption, do you want to lose whats left of our once special magical heritage? Do you want to see whats left of our land, environment and ecology being raped and ruined while they grow get fat on the profits and plan the next assault?
If not, if you feel strongly about this then please get involved in Bremore now. Do not wait like we waited at Tara, do not wait until it is too late to stop them.
Bremore Today.
Today, the 31/05/2009 I visited Bremore. It was a beautiful morning, the sun danced on the sea, birds sang and a small black thing raced across the small path which leads down to the burial mounds with something in its mouth. It was a weasel I think, on its way into the safety of a hedge. A lark rose and sang its way up into the heavens and from a distance this old burial place looked as it had always did; until I got up close to the mounds.
On the latest Ordnance Survey Maps there are five mounds clearly shown, today I could see only four. Three of them have been recently mauled and disturbed by machinery, to the point where they are now imperiled. One large mound may survive as it is too big to drive a tractor on, the other three have been ploughed over and planted upon. Some of the surrounding kerb stones have been pulled loose and at least two of the mounds are only a thin shadow of what they recently were.
These mounds have been dated at six thousand years old, one more year of this, perhaps one more harvesting of the crop this year and what remains of them will sink back into the soil. It is blatant vandalism carried out perhaps to an order or a request.
These mounds are National Monuments, among the most important monuments we have in our land, they are legally protected, they should be fenced off, regularly checked by a heritage officer or parks warden and damage to them stopped or corrected. Any farmer treating them as they have just been treated should be charged with a serious crime but like so much in Ireland now political, heritage and environmental duty has gone missing.
A priceless piece of us lies wounded and soon the developers will be given the green light to move and finish off the job. They will call this progress.
The signs that were there last year, National Monument Signs, warning signs, tourist signs etc have all been removed. The Minister of the Environment has been notified about this, so too has the National Monuments Office but nothing has been done. It is obvious that no one came out to check the site, or its condition and I personally have the feeling that the site is being prepared for its final destruction.
On the latest Ordnance Survey Maps there are five mounds clearly shown, today I could see only four. Three of them have been recently mauled and disturbed by machinery, to the point where they are now imperiled. One large mound may survive as it is too big to drive a tractor on, the other three have been ploughed over and planted upon. Some of the surrounding kerb stones have been pulled loose and at least two of the mounds are only a thin shadow of what they recently were.
These mounds have been dated at six thousand years old, one more year of this, perhaps one more harvesting of the crop this year and what remains of them will sink back into the soil. It is blatant vandalism carried out perhaps to an order or a request.
These mounds are National Monuments, among the most important monuments we have in our land, they are legally protected, they should be fenced off, regularly checked by a heritage officer or parks warden and damage to them stopped or corrected. Any farmer treating them as they have just been treated should be charged with a serious crime but like so much in Ireland now political, heritage and environmental duty has gone missing.
A priceless piece of us lies wounded and soon the developers will be given the green light to move and finish off the job. They will call this progress.
The signs that were there last year, National Monument Signs, warning signs, tourist signs etc have all been removed. The Minister of the Environment has been notified about this, so too has the National Monuments Office but nothing has been done. It is obvious that no one came out to check the site, or its condition and I personally have the feeling that the site is being prepared for its final destruction.
Articles on Bremore.
Controversy over public consultation on port plans.
Controversy is still raging over the validity of the public consultation procedures in relation to proposals for the alterations of the harbour limits of Drogheda Port Company at the proposed new deep water port of Bremore.
The plans should have been freely available for public viewing at the front office of Drogheda Garda station for a period of 21 days, but the Drogheda Independent has been contacted by a number of people who said the gardaí were either unaware of what was being asked for, or people could only view the proposals in a private room and in the presence of several gardaí.
They were also not allowed to photocopy or photograph the plans.
When this reporter went to view the plans, there was initial confusion as to the whereabouts of the folder, and it was thought they had been sent back to get the time extended.
However, it transpired they had been moved to a different location within the station.
'It is outrageous that these plans were not in a library in Balbriggan, or somewhere like a planning office more accessible to the general public,' says Dr Mark Clinton, a Howth-based archaeological consultant for An Taisce.
' When you see the advertisements that were placed in the Drogheda Independent, you would not think there was any connection to Bremore as it just mentions 'alterations of the harbour limits of Drogheda Port Company'.
'However, this actually proposes to put a great big harbour in a beautiful part of north County Dublin, and I'm sure if people knew about it, they would be interested to see if it affects them.'
It took Dr Clinton three attempts to get to see the plans, and he says he wasn't personally intimidated by the surroundings of the garda station, but he has spoken to some who were.
'Asking for the Superintendent's office is a big deal to some people, and I can't see why they needed to be kept there,' says Dr Clinton.
'I actually think the gardaí have many more important things to be doing, and it is outrageous these proposals weren't on show in a library or other more public building.'
- Alison COMYN
From the Drogheda Independent. Thursday, September 24 2009.
Leading developer says Nama will be positive for economy.
ONE OF the State’s biggest property developers believes Nama will take over most of its assets, but that the process will benefit both it and the economy. The Government’s plan to recapitalise the banks hinges on the proposed National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which will take over up to €90 billion in property loans. Listed property investor Real Estate Opportunities (REO), whose biggest shareholder, the John Ronan and Richard Barrett-controlled Treasury Holdings, is Nama’s landlord, believes the agency will take over the loans it has from the banks. John Bruder, managing director of Treasury Ireland which is part of the Treasury Holdings group, told The Irish Times yesterday that the company has studied the draft Nama legislation. He said the agency could take over good and bad loans. “It’s our expectation that a lot, if not all, of our portfolio will end up being subsumed into Nama,” he said. Mr Bruder added that, unlike other players in the market, none of REO’s loans are distressed. The company owns a large number of commercial and retail properties, including the landmark Central Park complex close to Leopardstown in Dublin, Montevetro on Barrow Street in the city centre, and a range of others in the capital’s main business district. In Britain, it owns the flagship Battersea power station, which it is redeveloping as a new urban centre. REO yesterday reported that its Irish properties, including investment assets and those under development, were worth just over €1.3 billion at the end of June, an 8 per cent fall over the previous six months. Its British interests were worth £388 million, a decline of 14.5 per cent. Mr Bruder said that if loans related to part or all of its portfolio are taken over by Nama, it will simply mean that the company will be repaying the agency instead of the banks. If the Oireachtas passes the legislation on schedule, Nama will begin its work towards the end of the year on a phased basis, taking on the larger loans first. On that basis, REO expects to begin dealing with agency around December or January. Under the terms of the proposed legislation, Nama will assume the banks’ rights and obligations in relation to any loans it takes over. Mr Bruder added that the Nama process should be positive for both the company and the economy generally, as it will allow the banks to raise money that can then be loaned. Nama’s critics argue that it will result in the taxpayer taking on too much risk as the State will overpay for the loans.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times. 28/08/09
Port threatens an archaeological complex of passage tombs.
AN TAISCE has warned that the proposed deepwater port at Bremore, north Co Dublin, could threaten an archaeological complex of passage tombs even older than Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley. The environmental trust was commenting yesterday on plans by Drogheda Port to extend its boundary southwards so as to incorporate Bremore for development of the deepwater port in partnership with Treasury Holdings. An Taisce said it had ascertained that the proposed alteration of the Drogheda Port Company’s area of control is to facilitate the construction of a new deepwater port at Bremore to cater for vessels up to 250 metres. Saying it was opposed to this development, the trust complained no environmental assessment of its effects has been made available, and thus there could be no proper public consultation, as required under EU law. It pointed out that the river Nanny estuary is an EU-designated nature conservation site – a special protected area under the birds directive and a candidate for special area of conservation under the habitats directive. The foreshore and associated sand dunes is home to many species of concern. According to a Foras Forbartha report (1972), the Helix Pisana is a “species that is only found on the Irish coast between south Co Louth and north Co Dublin”. An Taisce said the archaeological profile of the Bremore area was particularly significant, as it included the legally-protected Bremore Passage Tomb Cemetery as well as elements of the Gormanston Passage Tomb Cemetery. Archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton, chairman of An Taisce’s national monuments and antiquities committee, said one mound had an entrance orientation indicating the possibility that it was aligned with the summer solstice. “In this regard, and given their morphology and geographical location, there’s every possibility the builders were the near ancestors of those that built the nearby world-acclaimed tombs of Brú na Bóinne [the Boyne Valley tombs].” Dr Clinton said the two cemetery complexes proposed to be incorporated by Drogheda Port under the 2009 Harbours Act “must be considered within the greater context of other passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange”. “Hence we believe it is far more appropriate that the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne would be extended to include the Bremore-Gormanston complexes rather than their obliteration as a result of an ‘extension’ for ‘development’ of Drogheda Port.” An Taisce highlighted a potential loss of public amenities, noting that Gormanston lies at the southern end of a “renowned stretch of sandy beaches. Notice of the Bremore extension plan is available for public inspection only in the Superintendent’s office at Drogheda Garda Station. The deadline for submissions and objections is September 8th. All submissions should be sent to Garret Doocey, Maritime Transport Division, Department of Transport, Dublin 2; email garret.doocey@transport.ie.
FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times. September 2nd. 2009.
The next Tara/M3 spectacle.
The planned site of the new Drogheda/Dublin Port at Bremore could well be the next Tara/M3 spectacle. The site, which comprising of several hundred acres, contains the remnants of a number of passage tombs and practically every field, which the new Drogheda Port Company facility will be built on, contains early Neolithic archaeology. “The tombs at Bremore are of an earlier date than that of Newgrange and Fourknocks. They are very early Neolithic and this has been recorded before,” said local historian Brendan Matthews. “The tombs are only the start of the archaeology in the area. I walk the fields there regularly and I have collected bags of flint objects including scrapers and arrowheads.” An archaeological excavation undertaken in 1840 on a tomb at Knocknagin at the Delvin River uncovered a number of early Neolithic finds and stones around the tomb had no drawings engraved on them pointing to an earlier date than that of Newgrange. Finds in the area point to Bremore being one of the first ever sites of Neolithic settlement in Ireland.
The E300 million development was given the green light by the government after the Transport and Marine Minister Noel Dempsey stated that he intended to give permission to the Drogheda company.
Anthony Murphy of www. Mythicalireland.com said, “The remnants of the passage tombs at Bremore are Neolithic and are on the same timeline as Newgrange.” “These are no ordinary fields, it has been recorded that there is significant archaeology on the land.” The Drogheda Leader contacted the Drogheda Port Company but they were unavailable for comment at the time of print.
From The Drogheda Leader, November 21. 2008.
Pollution.
In a breefing issued on the 26 May and reported in the Irish Times on May 27, 2008, the EPA said that Fingal Co Council had the worst bathing standards of any Irish couny or local authority and more than half of its beaches failed to meet mandatory EU standards. These beaches include Balbriggan, Loughshinny and Portrane all neighbouring beaches of Breamore.
Irish Times. May 28th. 2009.
Speech.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Balbriggan Historical Society, Professor George Eogan said the area on both sides of the Delvin River from Gormanston to Bremore is a large Megalithic cemetery dating from 3,500BC. He said this has been recorded, researched and written about for well over 100 years and added the mounds on this site are legally protected under the National Monuments Act of 1930. Prof Eogan believes that Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area.
He has written a detailed report on the history of the area and the historical value of the site at Bremore.
Local historian Brendan Matthews has also expressed his concerns about the development of a new port on such a historical site and raised the issue as far back as 2005.He said that in the immediate vicinity of the proposed deep-water port, there are the remains of at least five megalithic tombs or burial chambers, while to the north of Bremore there are the remains of at least another six tombs scattered over a wide area from Knocknagin to Lowther Lodge.
Responding to the professors report and lecture, CEO of Drogheda Port, Paul Fleming said they recognise that there is archaeology at Bremore and will deal with it in an upfront and professional manner. He said the archaeology of the site was just one element in what was a complicated and multi-faceted site selection process which took two years to complete.
From the Drogheda Independent. Wednesday, December 05 2007.
Drogheda Port Company and Treasury Holdings are planning a 300 million world class port facility, which is expected to be operational by 2012. According to local historian, Paddy Boyle, the site is highly significant and an extraordinary example of megalithic tombs which could be of enormous value, both in terms of archaeology and tourism. If they were of the mind to develop its archaeological sites in the future, it would probably be the oldest in the county and on a par with Newgrange and Loughcrew. The artists impression of the new port does'nt show the tomb complex being retained in any way. In fact the roll-on roll-off terminal is positioned exactly where the tomb complex is located.
From The Fingal Independent, 2008.
Public statement on the Proposed Port at Bremore, County Dublin. 31 March 2007.
The proposed location is an area with a rich, recorded and designated prehistoric and historic archaeological heritage.The most well known element is the passage tomb cemetery on Bremore Head which extends along the coastline to include outliers at Gormanston. The Bremore tombs are designated National Monuments, with the attendant significance and protections this implies. Acknowledged experts in the archaeology of prehistoric Ireland suggest that this cemetery group is comparable to the complexes at the Boyne Valley and Lough Crew in County Meath as well as Carrowmore and Carrowkeel in County Sligo. Archaeological survey in the area has also recorded evidence for settlement and occupation in the vicinity of the tombs from the Neolithic (4000-2400BC) and Bronze Age (2400-500BC). At this juncture, IAI urges all interested parties within the profession to engage in open-handed and informative dialogue on the matter . Teresa Bolger. Public Relations Officer. Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, 2007.
Dublin Bay - Proposed 52 acre infill. Sunday, 15 June 2008.Statement from Sean 'Dublin Bay' Loftus, B.L. and Finian McGrath T.D. (Ind.) in reply to statement from Enda Connellon, CEO of Dublin Port Company, launching the 2005 annual report of Dublin Port (August 15th 2006) (Re proposed 52 acre infill of Dublin Bay)Mr Connellan CEO Dublin Port Company, stated on August 15th that the Port Company intends to proceed with a controversial plan to reclaim 21 hectares (52 acres) of land opposite the sea front at Clontarf as the port needs to urgently address operational capacity issues to serve the Irish economy. "This amounts to environmental blackmail. Dublin Baywatch has proved that if the Port was properly managed, there would be need to reclaim this land. Press Release. Drogheda Port Company and Castlemarket Holdings. 15 January 2008. The joint venture between Drogheda Port Company and Castle Market Holdings Ltd, announces today that it will seek to develop a Port Master Plan with Hutchison Westports Ltd for the new €300 million deepwater port at Bremore in north Co Dublin. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Bremore Ireland Port Ltd and Hutchison Westports Ltd paves the way for the next phase in the development of the deepest port on the east coast of Ireland. Bremore Ireland Port hopes to be in a position to submit a full planning permission application in the next 12 months. The new deepwater port will provide additional choice to Ireland importers and exporters, and accommodate new short sea shipping services to the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandanavia and the Baltic States. Bremore Port will be designed and operated to provide the highest environmental standards and respect for the local community. It is anticipated that a diverse business district will be created around the port bringing widescale economic benefits to the Bremore/Balbriggan area and presenting lifestyle opportunities for local people to work in their local area. The project is proposed in three phases with Phase 1, subject to detailed design, potentiallycatering for up to 10 million tonnes of freight including 350,000 TEU Lo-Lo units, 409,000 Ro-Ro units and 1 million tonnes of general and bulk cargoes. The first phase of development will provide circa 500mtrs of linear quay for container and general cargo handling, two Ro-Ro and one high speed ferry berth for road freight, car and foot passenger traffic. The depth alongside will be in the order of 10.5m below CD, with a potential for future deepening to 12.0m.The port will be designed and operated to provide the highest environmental standards and respect for the local community. A diverse business district will be created around the port bringing wide economic benefits to the Bremore-Balbriggan area and presenting lifestyle opportunities for local people to work locally. Bremore Ireland Port Ltd is a joint venture partnership between Drogheda Port Company and Castle Market Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Real Estate Opportunities Limited. REO business in Ireland is managed by Treasury Holdings. HPH is the world leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in a total of 292 berths in 46 ports, spanning 23 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Paul Fleming, CEO Drogheda Port Company commented: We are delighted to welcome Hutchison Westports Ltd to the Bremore team. Their port planning and operational experience will be a major asset to the development of Bremore Ireland Port.John Bruder, managing director of Treasury Holdings commented: Bremore Port is one of the most exciting commercial developments in Ireland at present and we are delighted that a truly world-class international partner in Hutchison Westports is now onboard.
Prof Eogan who believes that Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area has written a detailed report on the history of the area and the historical value of the site at Bremore.
A survey of the passage tombs at Bremore was published by Etienne Rynne (Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 1960) and recent publications in Archaeology Ireland (Cooney, 2008; Condit, Moore and Brady, 2008) have stressed the significant and integrated nature of the prehistoric and historic archaeological remains in the area.
Archaeological survey in the area has also recorded evidence for settlement and occupation in the vicinity of the tombs from the Neolithic (4000-2400BC) and Bronze Age (2400-500BC).
Teresa Bolger. Public Relations Officer. Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, 2007.
Ireland’s Environmental Record.
Despite having just 1 per cent of the European Union’s population, Ireland accounts for 6 per cent of all EU environmental infringement cases being investigated by the European Commission, according to Proinsias De Rossa, Labour MEP for Dublin. He said yesterday that Ireland had the third highest number of infringements under investigation (54) after Spain (96) and Italy (90). Countries with fewer cases included Britain (52), France (51) and Germany (43), all with 10 times Ireland’s population.Launching a detailed research paper No Time to Waste , which documents Ireland’s non-compliance, he warned that Ireland’s failure to implement EU environmental legislation could prove an impediment to a sustainable economic recovery.
Mr De Rossa said that “conservative political forces” in Ireland viewed environmental protection as one of the negative “obligations” of EU membership – “measures that should be opposed and, when that proves futile, to be delayed for as long as possible”.
Frank Mc Donald, Environment Editor, Irish Times, Tuesday, June 2, 2009.
http://www.tara-foundation.org/Bremore-Port.phpmail@tara-foundation.org.
Controversy is still raging over the validity of the public consultation procedures in relation to proposals for the alterations of the harbour limits of Drogheda Port Company at the proposed new deep water port of Bremore.
The plans should have been freely available for public viewing at the front office of Drogheda Garda station for a period of 21 days, but the Drogheda Independent has been contacted by a number of people who said the gardaí were either unaware of what was being asked for, or people could only view the proposals in a private room and in the presence of several gardaí.
They were also not allowed to photocopy or photograph the plans.
When this reporter went to view the plans, there was initial confusion as to the whereabouts of the folder, and it was thought they had been sent back to get the time extended.
However, it transpired they had been moved to a different location within the station.
'It is outrageous that these plans were not in a library in Balbriggan, or somewhere like a planning office more accessible to the general public,' says Dr Mark Clinton, a Howth-based archaeological consultant for An Taisce.
' When you see the advertisements that were placed in the Drogheda Independent, you would not think there was any connection to Bremore as it just mentions 'alterations of the harbour limits of Drogheda Port Company'.
'However, this actually proposes to put a great big harbour in a beautiful part of north County Dublin, and I'm sure if people knew about it, they would be interested to see if it affects them.'
It took Dr Clinton three attempts to get to see the plans, and he says he wasn't personally intimidated by the surroundings of the garda station, but he has spoken to some who were.
'Asking for the Superintendent's office is a big deal to some people, and I can't see why they needed to be kept there,' says Dr Clinton.
'I actually think the gardaí have many more important things to be doing, and it is outrageous these proposals weren't on show in a library or other more public building.'
- Alison COMYN
From the Drogheda Independent. Thursday, September 24 2009.
Leading developer says Nama will be positive for economy.
ONE OF the State’s biggest property developers believes Nama will take over most of its assets, but that the process will benefit both it and the economy. The Government’s plan to recapitalise the banks hinges on the proposed National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which will take over up to €90 billion in property loans. Listed property investor Real Estate Opportunities (REO), whose biggest shareholder, the John Ronan and Richard Barrett-controlled Treasury Holdings, is Nama’s landlord, believes the agency will take over the loans it has from the banks. John Bruder, managing director of Treasury Ireland which is part of the Treasury Holdings group, told The Irish Times yesterday that the company has studied the draft Nama legislation. He said the agency could take over good and bad loans. “It’s our expectation that a lot, if not all, of our portfolio will end up being subsumed into Nama,” he said. Mr Bruder added that, unlike other players in the market, none of REO’s loans are distressed. The company owns a large number of commercial and retail properties, including the landmark Central Park complex close to Leopardstown in Dublin, Montevetro on Barrow Street in the city centre, and a range of others in the capital’s main business district. In Britain, it owns the flagship Battersea power station, which it is redeveloping as a new urban centre. REO yesterday reported that its Irish properties, including investment assets and those under development, were worth just over €1.3 billion at the end of June, an 8 per cent fall over the previous six months. Its British interests were worth £388 million, a decline of 14.5 per cent. Mr Bruder said that if loans related to part or all of its portfolio are taken over by Nama, it will simply mean that the company will be repaying the agency instead of the banks. If the Oireachtas passes the legislation on schedule, Nama will begin its work towards the end of the year on a phased basis, taking on the larger loans first. On that basis, REO expects to begin dealing with agency around December or January. Under the terms of the proposed legislation, Nama will assume the banks’ rights and obligations in relation to any loans it takes over. Mr Bruder added that the Nama process should be positive for both the company and the economy generally, as it will allow the banks to raise money that can then be loaned. Nama’s critics argue that it will result in the taxpayer taking on too much risk as the State will overpay for the loans.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times. 28/08/09
Port threatens an archaeological complex of passage tombs.
AN TAISCE has warned that the proposed deepwater port at Bremore, north Co Dublin, could threaten an archaeological complex of passage tombs even older than Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley. The environmental trust was commenting yesterday on plans by Drogheda Port to extend its boundary southwards so as to incorporate Bremore for development of the deepwater port in partnership with Treasury Holdings. An Taisce said it had ascertained that the proposed alteration of the Drogheda Port Company’s area of control is to facilitate the construction of a new deepwater port at Bremore to cater for vessels up to 250 metres. Saying it was opposed to this development, the trust complained no environmental assessment of its effects has been made available, and thus there could be no proper public consultation, as required under EU law. It pointed out that the river Nanny estuary is an EU-designated nature conservation site – a special protected area under the birds directive and a candidate for special area of conservation under the habitats directive. The foreshore and associated sand dunes is home to many species of concern. According to a Foras Forbartha report (1972), the Helix Pisana is a “species that is only found on the Irish coast between south Co Louth and north Co Dublin”. An Taisce said the archaeological profile of the Bremore area was particularly significant, as it included the legally-protected Bremore Passage Tomb Cemetery as well as elements of the Gormanston Passage Tomb Cemetery. Archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton, chairman of An Taisce’s national monuments and antiquities committee, said one mound had an entrance orientation indicating the possibility that it was aligned with the summer solstice. “In this regard, and given their morphology and geographical location, there’s every possibility the builders were the near ancestors of those that built the nearby world-acclaimed tombs of Brú na Bóinne [the Boyne Valley tombs].” Dr Clinton said the two cemetery complexes proposed to be incorporated by Drogheda Port under the 2009 Harbours Act “must be considered within the greater context of other passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange”. “Hence we believe it is far more appropriate that the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne would be extended to include the Bremore-Gormanston complexes rather than their obliteration as a result of an ‘extension’ for ‘development’ of Drogheda Port.” An Taisce highlighted a potential loss of public amenities, noting that Gormanston lies at the southern end of a “renowned stretch of sandy beaches. Notice of the Bremore extension plan is available for public inspection only in the Superintendent’s office at Drogheda Garda Station. The deadline for submissions and objections is September 8th. All submissions should be sent to Garret Doocey, Maritime Transport Division, Department of Transport, Dublin 2; email garret.doocey@transport.ie.
FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times. September 2nd. 2009.
The next Tara/M3 spectacle.
The planned site of the new Drogheda/Dublin Port at Bremore could well be the next Tara/M3 spectacle. The site, which comprising of several hundred acres, contains the remnants of a number of passage tombs and practically every field, which the new Drogheda Port Company facility will be built on, contains early Neolithic archaeology. “The tombs at Bremore are of an earlier date than that of Newgrange and Fourknocks. They are very early Neolithic and this has been recorded before,” said local historian Brendan Matthews. “The tombs are only the start of the archaeology in the area. I walk the fields there regularly and I have collected bags of flint objects including scrapers and arrowheads.” An archaeological excavation undertaken in 1840 on a tomb at Knocknagin at the Delvin River uncovered a number of early Neolithic finds and stones around the tomb had no drawings engraved on them pointing to an earlier date than that of Newgrange. Finds in the area point to Bremore being one of the first ever sites of Neolithic settlement in Ireland.
The E300 million development was given the green light by the government after the Transport and Marine Minister Noel Dempsey stated that he intended to give permission to the Drogheda company.
Anthony Murphy of www. Mythicalireland.com said, “The remnants of the passage tombs at Bremore are Neolithic and are on the same timeline as Newgrange.” “These are no ordinary fields, it has been recorded that there is significant archaeology on the land.” The Drogheda Leader contacted the Drogheda Port Company but they were unavailable for comment at the time of print.
From The Drogheda Leader, November 21. 2008.
Pollution.
In a breefing issued on the 26 May and reported in the Irish Times on May 27, 2008, the EPA said that Fingal Co Council had the worst bathing standards of any Irish couny or local authority and more than half of its beaches failed to meet mandatory EU standards. These beaches include Balbriggan, Loughshinny and Portrane all neighbouring beaches of Breamore.
Irish Times. May 28th. 2009.
Speech.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Balbriggan Historical Society, Professor George Eogan said the area on both sides of the Delvin River from Gormanston to Bremore is a large Megalithic cemetery dating from 3,500BC. He said this has been recorded, researched and written about for well over 100 years and added the mounds on this site are legally protected under the National Monuments Act of 1930. Prof Eogan believes that Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area.
He has written a detailed report on the history of the area and the historical value of the site at Bremore.
Local historian Brendan Matthews has also expressed his concerns about the development of a new port on such a historical site and raised the issue as far back as 2005.He said that in the immediate vicinity of the proposed deep-water port, there are the remains of at least five megalithic tombs or burial chambers, while to the north of Bremore there are the remains of at least another six tombs scattered over a wide area from Knocknagin to Lowther Lodge.
Responding to the professors report and lecture, CEO of Drogheda Port, Paul Fleming said they recognise that there is archaeology at Bremore and will deal with it in an upfront and professional manner. He said the archaeology of the site was just one element in what was a complicated and multi-faceted site selection process which took two years to complete.
From the Drogheda Independent. Wednesday, December 05 2007.
Drogheda Port Company and Treasury Holdings are planning a 300 million world class port facility, which is expected to be operational by 2012. According to local historian, Paddy Boyle, the site is highly significant and an extraordinary example of megalithic tombs which could be of enormous value, both in terms of archaeology and tourism. If they were of the mind to develop its archaeological sites in the future, it would probably be the oldest in the county and on a par with Newgrange and Loughcrew. The artists impression of the new port does'nt show the tomb complex being retained in any way. In fact the roll-on roll-off terminal is positioned exactly where the tomb complex is located.
From The Fingal Independent, 2008.
Public statement on the Proposed Port at Bremore, County Dublin. 31 March 2007.
The proposed location is an area with a rich, recorded and designated prehistoric and historic archaeological heritage.The most well known element is the passage tomb cemetery on Bremore Head which extends along the coastline to include outliers at Gormanston. The Bremore tombs are designated National Monuments, with the attendant significance and protections this implies. Acknowledged experts in the archaeology of prehistoric Ireland suggest that this cemetery group is comparable to the complexes at the Boyne Valley and Lough Crew in County Meath as well as Carrowmore and Carrowkeel in County Sligo. Archaeological survey in the area has also recorded evidence for settlement and occupation in the vicinity of the tombs from the Neolithic (4000-2400BC) and Bronze Age (2400-500BC). At this juncture, IAI urges all interested parties within the profession to engage in open-handed and informative dialogue on the matter . Teresa Bolger. Public Relations Officer. Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, 2007.
Dublin Bay - Proposed 52 acre infill. Sunday, 15 June 2008.Statement from Sean 'Dublin Bay' Loftus, B.L. and Finian McGrath T.D. (Ind.) in reply to statement from Enda Connellon, CEO of Dublin Port Company, launching the 2005 annual report of Dublin Port (August 15th 2006) (Re proposed 52 acre infill of Dublin Bay)Mr Connellan CEO Dublin Port Company, stated on August 15th that the Port Company intends to proceed with a controversial plan to reclaim 21 hectares (52 acres) of land opposite the sea front at Clontarf as the port needs to urgently address operational capacity issues to serve the Irish economy. "This amounts to environmental blackmail. Dublin Baywatch has proved that if the Port was properly managed, there would be need to reclaim this land. Press Release. Drogheda Port Company and Castlemarket Holdings. 15 January 2008. The joint venture between Drogheda Port Company and Castle Market Holdings Ltd, announces today that it will seek to develop a Port Master Plan with Hutchison Westports Ltd for the new €300 million deepwater port at Bremore in north Co Dublin. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Bremore Ireland Port Ltd and Hutchison Westports Ltd paves the way for the next phase in the development of the deepest port on the east coast of Ireland. Bremore Ireland Port hopes to be in a position to submit a full planning permission application in the next 12 months. The new deepwater port will provide additional choice to Ireland importers and exporters, and accommodate new short sea shipping services to the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandanavia and the Baltic States. Bremore Port will be designed and operated to provide the highest environmental standards and respect for the local community. It is anticipated that a diverse business district will be created around the port bringing widescale economic benefits to the Bremore/Balbriggan area and presenting lifestyle opportunities for local people to work in their local area. The project is proposed in three phases with Phase 1, subject to detailed design, potentiallycatering for up to 10 million tonnes of freight including 350,000 TEU Lo-Lo units, 409,000 Ro-Ro units and 1 million tonnes of general and bulk cargoes. The first phase of development will provide circa 500mtrs of linear quay for container and general cargo handling, two Ro-Ro and one high speed ferry berth for road freight, car and foot passenger traffic. The depth alongside will be in the order of 10.5m below CD, with a potential for future deepening to 12.0m.The port will be designed and operated to provide the highest environmental standards and respect for the local community. A diverse business district will be created around the port bringing wide economic benefits to the Bremore-Balbriggan area and presenting lifestyle opportunities for local people to work locally. Bremore Ireland Port Ltd is a joint venture partnership between Drogheda Port Company and Castle Market Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Real Estate Opportunities Limited. REO business in Ireland is managed by Treasury Holdings. HPH is the world leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in a total of 292 berths in 46 ports, spanning 23 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Paul Fleming, CEO Drogheda Port Company commented: We are delighted to welcome Hutchison Westports Ltd to the Bremore team. Their port planning and operational experience will be a major asset to the development of Bremore Ireland Port.John Bruder, managing director of Treasury Holdings commented: Bremore Port is one of the most exciting commercial developments in Ireland at present and we are delighted that a truly world-class international partner in Hutchison Westports is now onboard.
Prof Eogan who believes that Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area has written a detailed report on the history of the area and the historical value of the site at Bremore.
A survey of the passage tombs at Bremore was published by Etienne Rynne (Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 1960) and recent publications in Archaeology Ireland (Cooney, 2008; Condit, Moore and Brady, 2008) have stressed the significant and integrated nature of the prehistoric and historic archaeological remains in the area.
Archaeological survey in the area has also recorded evidence for settlement and occupation in the vicinity of the tombs from the Neolithic (4000-2400BC) and Bronze Age (2400-500BC).
Teresa Bolger. Public Relations Officer. Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, 2007.
Ireland’s Environmental Record.
Despite having just 1 per cent of the European Union’s population, Ireland accounts for 6 per cent of all EU environmental infringement cases being investigated by the European Commission, according to Proinsias De Rossa, Labour MEP for Dublin. He said yesterday that Ireland had the third highest number of infringements under investigation (54) after Spain (96) and Italy (90). Countries with fewer cases included Britain (52), France (51) and Germany (43), all with 10 times Ireland’s population.Launching a detailed research paper No Time to Waste , which documents Ireland’s non-compliance, he warned that Ireland’s failure to implement EU environmental legislation could prove an impediment to a sustainable economic recovery.
Mr De Rossa said that “conservative political forces” in Ireland viewed environmental protection as one of the negative “obligations” of EU membership – “measures that should be opposed and, when that proves futile, to be delayed for as long as possible”.
Frank Mc Donald, Environment Editor, Irish Times, Tuesday, June 2, 2009.
http://www.tara-foundation.org/Bremore-Port.phpmail@tara-foundation.org.
Jobs.
But what about Jobs?
Promising and creating jobs is the attraction which allows all developments be sold to local people. However there is a finite number of jobs that can be provided in ports in Ireland.
Jobs created in a Bremore port will take from the jobs now in place in Dublin Port. If the port in Bremore proves to be more efficient and less prone to union dominance, as it will, then there is likely to be a reduction in the sum total of jobs available.
In the construction phase there will be work but using the present economic model the employment mix will tend to be 80% unskilled non nationals and about 20% nationals.
To wreck an environmental and heritage asset like Bremore for these job numbers would be a step backwards.
Ireland likes to think short term, thats why we stumble from problem to problem but we must learn to calculate our actions long term, what effect they will have on our land, waters and future populations and not what pockets the development will fill in the short term.
“A fool thinks in minutes but an intelligent man must learn to think in centuries”.
Bertrand Russel. Two times Nobel prize winner.
The burial tombs at Bremore have withstood not just centuries but millenna, they seen us find our feet, suffer, laugh, believe in Cosmic law and then atrophy down to famine and foreign dominance. Are they to watch us destroy them now? Is that what our evolution was for?
The 10 State-owned port companies are in Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Shannon/Foynes, Galway, New Ross, Waterford and Wicklow.
Going, going...
Promising and creating jobs is the attraction which allows all developments be sold to local people. However there is a finite number of jobs that can be provided in ports in Ireland.
Jobs created in a Bremore port will take from the jobs now in place in Dublin Port. If the port in Bremore proves to be more efficient and less prone to union dominance, as it will, then there is likely to be a reduction in the sum total of jobs available.
In the construction phase there will be work but using the present economic model the employment mix will tend to be 80% unskilled non nationals and about 20% nationals.
To wreck an environmental and heritage asset like Bremore for these job numbers would be a step backwards.
Ireland likes to think short term, thats why we stumble from problem to problem but we must learn to calculate our actions long term, what effect they will have on our land, waters and future populations and not what pockets the development will fill in the short term.
“A fool thinks in minutes but an intelligent man must learn to think in centuries”.
Bertrand Russel. Two times Nobel prize winner.
The burial tombs at Bremore have withstood not just centuries but millenna, they seen us find our feet, suffer, laugh, believe in Cosmic law and then atrophy down to famine and foreign dominance. Are they to watch us destroy them now? Is that what our evolution was for?
The 10 State-owned port companies are in Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Shannon/Foynes, Galway, New Ross, Waterford and Wicklow.
Going, going...
Imagine.
Imagine if we had politicians who would buy Bremore, all the land now bought for development and turn it into a heritage park. Plant trees, reconstruct the mounds, put in paths and seats by the sea.
Imagine then advertising this as one of the oldest heritage sites in Europe. Would it attract good paying tourists, into good Bed And Breakfasts, imagine training our young in craft industries, sustainable tourism, imagine being a leader instead of a beggar nation?
Imagine valuing the past instead of plundering it, the present and the future.
Imagine a bright future!!!
Imagine telling our children that they have a future. Go to Bremore and imagine...
Imagine then advertising this as one of the oldest heritage sites in Europe. Would it attract good paying tourists, into good Bed And Breakfasts, imagine training our young in craft industries, sustainable tourism, imagine being a leader instead of a beggar nation?
Imagine valuing the past instead of plundering it, the present and the future.
Imagine a bright future!!!
Imagine telling our children that they have a future. Go to Bremore and imagine...
The politics of Destruction
If what is happening at Bremore concerns you then please become active now.Haunt your politicians, all of them, now.
Mail the media, mail your friends, let everyone know what is happening because it is happening all across our land.
Our greatest asset, a once beautiful green and mystical land is being reduced to a litter strewn suburbia.
Our woods and wildlife are being decimated, wild places, hedges and history are being removed to make way for an economy based only on ego and greed. 60% of our drinking water is polluted and our heritage is being bulldozed for private gain.
We are slowly being destroyed.
The politics of destruction so evident now at Bremore must be stopped.
Do not wait like at Tara, until it was too late.
Face down the destroyers now.
Contact the People responsible:
taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, Minister@transport.ie,
minister@environ.ie, nationalmonuments@environ.ie, minister@agriculture.gov.ie,
Make contact with European Leaders and European people now. Let them know what the filthy men of Europe are again up to, make them known in Europe.
http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeire/petition.html
Please sign this Petition and pass it on.
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