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Campaigner unveils 'alternative' M3 routePRESS STATEMENT - TARAWATCH - 19TH AUGUST O4 - 4.30 PM A new campaigning group - Tarawatch - has been formed. The group sees it's role as articulating the opinion of the 70% of the irish population who are against the routing of the proposed M3 through the Tara Complex. The group is determined to keep the issue at the forefront of public debate in the run-up to a high court challenge to the Governments decision. The group's first public action took place today at the M50 tool-booth operated by National Toll Roads who are part of the consortium most likely to build and collect tolls on the proposed M3 for the next 25 years as part of a Private Public partnership arrangement. Leaflets were distributed at the action to motorists informing them: - that the Clonee to Kells motorway will have two toll booths for a initial contract period of 45 years - that one toll booth will be located north and the other south of the Hill of Tara - that profits from these tolls will go to a private corporation and not the exchequer - that NTR has been selected as the preferred bidder on the M3 Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract - that NTR are part of Eurolink, along with SISK and Cintra Construction PLC (Spain). - that the profit from their tolls will pay for destruction of Tara - that a shorter cheaper route to the west of the tara complex is available - that commuting problems on the M50 are likely to get much worse A member of Tarawatch, Michael Canney said "The government are attempting to frame the debate over the M3 in terms of heritage and environmental campaigners VS the commuter and motorist. We have set out today to convince motorists that the length of commuting times is the real problem and that the lack of public transport alternatives is contributing greatly to it. All of this is a result of failed housing and transport strategies". Mr. Canney continued: "To add insult to injury, the long distance commuter will now see their toll money, paid to NTR, used to fund the M3. In effect their monies are going to be used by this company to destroy the Tara complex". The new group sees itself as an extending and broadening the already existing campaign against the plan to run the new M3 through the Tara-Skryne Valley. It intends to be action oriented and will be launching a major website next week. Another member of the group said: "The government have overruled their own experts, ignored national and international academic opinion and resisted and slandered those seeking to challenge their actions through the courts. We are now beginning to mobilise for the next stage of the campaign. We represent the majority of public opinion on this issue and we will not allow this opinion to be ignored." Campaigner unveils 'alternative' M3 route By Elaine Edwards Ireland.com Last updated: 19-08-05, 16:39 A campaigner against the proposed route of the new M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara in Co Meath has presented an alternative route for the road, again urging that it be re-routed to avoid the historic site. A campaign graphic voicing opposition to the proposed M3 route In a briefing on his legal action against the Government, lawyer Vincent Salafia claimed that 70 per cent of more than 1,000 respondents in a recent survey by research group RED C favoured a different route for the M3, which will run from Clonee to Kells, bypassing Dunshaughlin and Navan. The campaigner said he had separated himself from the Tarawatch protest group because he did not want them exposed to liability in the event that he loses his High Court action against the route. He said he was personally exposed financially if he loses the forthcoming case. Campaigners and their advisors are awaiting judgment from the Supreme Court in a case related to the controversy over the Carrickmines Castle site in Dublin. The outcome may have an effect on their legal argument in the Tara case, which centres on technical points in legislation under which the Minister for the Environment consented to the route. Mr Salafia expressed concern about the fact that no public hearing on tolling had yet been heard, even though it has been widely reported that the Eurolink consortium will toll the route and also receive a State subsidy. Mr Salafia today presented what he said was a professionally designed and "legally acceptable" engineering solution which would protect the Hill of Tara. The alternative route is up to 2km shorter between Navan and Dunshaughlin and brings the M3 nearer to Trim, which would make sense he said. "The NRA and the Government are saying 'you must allow us to build this motorway through Tara or you must sit in traffic jams; it's the only solution'. You, the motorist, and the citizen, were promised upgrades and by-passes years ago, do not allow them to foist a destructive, wasteful and unsustainable - but highly lucrative - motorway as a bullying tactic now," he said. "The only people who will benefit from the construction of the M3 are the toll road operators and property speculators. The same company who operate the M50 toll (NTR) have been selected as the preferred bidder, they will operate it and profit from it in exactly the same way. The prospect of large retail and commercial developments at junctions along the route is a prime motivation behind large land transfers in the Meath area." The NRA insists that the route chosen makes most sense economically and that it will run further from the Hill of Tara than the existing N3. However, Mr Salafia said Tara had to be considered a complex and that it wasn't confined to the hill itself. He wants the entire complex declared a World Heritage Site. Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe said he would like to see the matter brought back before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, which is chaired by the Fianna F€ ¦áil TD Sean Haughey. Mr Haughey has previously said that plans to run the route through the Tara area were "bordering on vandalism" against one of the most important historic sites in the country. Mr Cuffe said today: "It's about time he put his money where his mouth is and moved it on." The Green Party TD also said he believed there was public concern about some of the investigation methods currently being used on sites around Tara. Diggers are in operation on a number of the sites and some environmentalists claim they may cause irreparable damage to terrain or artifacts of archeological and historical significance. Sinn F€ ¦éin TD Aongus € ¦Ó Snodaigh said his party favoured rerouting the road alongside the development of public transport alternatives such as a rail line to Navan. "My main point is the protection of our natural environment and also our archeological and historical heritage. Anyone who has any understanding of history will understand that the outlying area is often more important than the site itself. If you start to destroy the landscape you lose the sense of what was there." |
Posted by BrigantesNation 20th August 2005ce |
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