Adjournment Matters. - National Monuments Preservation. – Seanad Éireann (22nd Seanad) – Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Adjournment Matters. - National Monuments Preservation.

Mr. Ross

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Gallagher. It is refreshing to have a Minister of State from the relevant Department in attendance for an adjournment matter in the Seanad.

I have to declare an interest – I live adjacent to the site to which I will refer and also to a site known as Jackson Way. Both sites may be familiar to Members of the House and to the general public. In my view, it is no coincidence that the controversy currently surrounding the rerouting of the M50 motorway not only includes a medieval site which should be the subject of a preservation order but also includes a site whose beneficial owners are something of a mystery. The question must be posed as to whether there is a connection between those issues.

I propose to the Minister of State that we re-route this motorway because the basic decision-making process on which the route of the motorway was based was flawed in two ways. First, an environmental impact statement was prepared which stated the Carrickmines site was of little value – that has now been completely blown out of the water. Second, the M50 route agreed runs north of where it is actually being built and was re-routed to include and bisect the Jackson Way site as well as the medieval site. What are we to make of this? I suggest the two are connected.

I ask the Minister of State if it is reasonable that the route should not be considered final until the rights and wrongs of the Jackson Way site are resolved and made public because everyone knows the history of the Jackson Way site by now. An area of perhaps 120 acres was bought by the company for €685,000, I believe, and the owners – whose names we do not know – are seeking compensation of €118 million on the basis that the land – had it not had a motorway running through it – would have been rezoned for industrial or other commercial purposes. This particular re-routing leaves many questions to answer because it has affected many others.

I plead with the Minister of State that we cannot allow this project to go ahead until what is now being discussed in Dún Laoghaire in an arbitration process is resolved and we ascertain the beneficial owner of the Jackson Way site who will benefit from the fact that the route takes in the medieval site. Once we have transparency on this matter, the next report of the Flood tribunal – this issue is to be examined in its next module – and the CAB investigation, we can make a decision on the routing of this motorway which is based on planning criteria alone.

The Jackson Way site may be clean as a whistle. However, the worst situation would be that in years to come we looked at the route only to find something was flawed about the planning process over which we could not stand and discovered it was routed there for all the wrong reasons other than planning. That worries me. One of the victims of that routing would be the medieval site known as Carrickmines Castle. My first plea is that we do not go ahead with this when there are such extraordinarily uncomfortable questions to answer such as who is benefiting from the fact that the road goes through the site. Those with an interest in our heritage, medieval archaeology and who have taken an interest in this site will suffer most.

The Minister of State should note that a dozen protesters are on site objecting to the presence of several 35 tonne caterpillar diggers carrying out work on a daily basis despite the fact that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, promised there would only be mini-diggers. There is unseemly haste – which I see at 6.30 a.m. – to the ruination of this site which we may come to regret. The site spans four centuries and the discoveries have included coins, human remains, pottery and other artefacts which give us an interest in how people lived over the period. It has been described by many eminent experts as Ireland's Pompeii or a new Newgrange. It is a spectacular site, one well worth preserving. The Minister of State should remember that when one makes decisions like this, they are forever and that it would be a great pity if this road project went ahead on this route if the reasons it was re-routed were subject to serious and uncomfortable questions.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Gallagher)

I am grateful for this opportunity to clarify my position on the situation at Carrickmines. I appreciate the genuine contribution the Senator has made this evening and will endeavour to address it.

The proposal for the south eastern motorway was approved by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government in 1998. In accordance with legal requirements, a comprehensive environmental impact statement was prepared by the road authority, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. This was the basis for extensive public consultation, as well as a public inquiry, which were undertaken prior to the determination of the matter by the Minister.

The impact of the proposed motorway route on archaeological features at Carrickmines and a number of other locations was acknowledged as an important element of the EIA process. Dúchas, the heritage service of the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, participated in the public consultation and inquiry involved, together with other parties, including An Taisce, which was also interested in archaeological issues. The selected route, as subsequently endorsed by the Minister, was generally endorsed by all of these parties as the best environmental option.

The resulting conditions attaching to the construction of the motorway require that the visibleupstanding remains of the castle and associated medieval buildings will be preserved in situ. It is further required that full archaeological investigation be undertaken to mitigate the impact of works on that part of the complex to be removed by the construction of the motorway.

This approach is consistent with the reality that it is frequently not possible to preserve all archaeology in situ. In such cases preservation by record is internationally recognised, and also accepted by Dúchas, as an appropriate method of preserving the archaeological heritage. In the event, and to discharge the conditions imposed by the EIA approval, the National Roads Authority and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have commissioned extensive archaeological investigations and excavations at the Carrickmines site. These have so far been running for two years and extended – from an earlier estimate of ten months – to deal with the greater than foreseen complexity of the site. Up to 200 archaeologists have been employed on site and the current running cost of the work comes to some €6 million. This work has already significantly enhanced the national archaeological record and recovered more than 40,000 artefacts as an enduring legacy for this and future generations to appreciate and learn from. Thanks to the substantial investment of resources by the road authorities, more has been done to improve our knowledge and understanding of the Carrickmines archaeological heritage in the past two years than in the previous 350, during which it lay buried.

More recently, and in response to a request from the Minister for Transport, the NRA and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have developed a set of supplementary proposals that will achieve the dual objective of preserving extensive areas of the historic and archaeological site at Carrickmines while at the same time allowing construction of the south eastern motorway section of the M50 to proceed on schedule. Furthermore, a long-term management plan for the portion of the castle to be preserved in situ is to be discussed and agreed between Dúchas and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. I emphasise that the NRA has committed to a code of practice with my Department for the mitigation of archaeology on national road projects.

Given these circumstances it is not considered necessary or appropriate to place a temporary preservation order on the site. Such orders are used to address unexpected or unauthorised circumstances which may place the archaeological heritage at risk. Their use is not appropriate where, as in the current case, there is an agreed strategy to preserve and mitigate the archaeology of a site. I am conscious of my responsibilities for archaeological conservation both generally and in relation to the south eastern motorway development. A strategy for investigating and conserving the archaeology of the Carrickmines site was approved by the environmental impact assessment for the south eastern motorway. This process has involved widespread public consultation of interested parties, including Dúchas, the heritage service and An Taisce.

That agreed strategy has been implemented under a series of excavation licences issued by Dúchas, and will resolve the archaeology of the Carrickmines site through the preservation of extensive excavated areas in situ, the recovery of many artefacts and the preservation by record of other features. Given the implementation of this agreed and wide ranging programme of archaeological work, it is not considered appropriate to place a preservation order on the site at this stage. I regard this approach as proper in relation to the archaeological heritage in this case and I commend it to Senators.

I appreciate what has been said by Senator Ross. He expressed the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to make a temporary preservation order on the lands surrounding Carrickmines Castle, which include Jackson's Way, under section 8 of the National Monuments Act. I hope I have indicated that sufficient steps have been taken by the Minister and Dúchas to ensure that the site is preserved, taking into consideration the necessity to carry out developments.

Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002