'Campaign to Save Tara' umbrella group should cease trading

tarawatch | 03.02.2009 17:21 | Globalisation | History | World

Campaign to Save Tara was founded in January 2007, as an umbrella group for all Tara Campaigners. It was legally wound up by a vote of its members in December 2007, after a Standards in Public Office investigation. However, recent actions show that certain former members are still trading and accepting donations under the CST name.

Campaign to Save Tara Must Cease Trading

A group called Campaign to Save Tara (CST) was quoted in The Irish Times, along with TaraWatch, on Saturday, 31 January 2009 ,as having nominated Tara to the Ireland's Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

"TaraWatch and the Campaign to Save Tara have said the Hill of Tara complex qualifies for World Heritage status as a natural and cultural landscape of outstanding universal value, due to its unique cultural significance, and the extent of the surviving remains." [1.]

This came as a big surprise to TaraWatch members, as CST was disbanded, by a vote of it's own members, as was is reported in their Press Release of 9th. December, 2007, entitled. "Campaign to Save Tara disbands":

"The Campaign to Save Tara, an umbrella group of individuals and some pre-existing groups campaigning on the Tara/M3 issue officially disbanded at an EGM held at the Country Club in Dunshaughlin on Wednesday 5th December. The group was formed in January 2007. Those present, which included most of the original founding members, voted by a margin of 4 to 1 to disband the group... The CST will be making a return to the Standards in Public Office Commission as it is legally obliged to do because of its active involvement in the election campaign this Summer. [2.]

However, subsequent to the press statement, the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO), published a report, entitled: "Report on disclosure of donations and election expenses at Dáil general election of 2007", on 13/12/07, which stated in 5.2 - Correspondence with "other persons"/"third parties":

"The Standards Commission published a notice regarding the requirements of section 31(7) of the Act, and the requirement to register as a "third party", in the national and local newspapers. The notice appeared in the main national newspapers on Thursday 3 May 2007 and in the Sunday newspapers and a number of other relevant magazines on 6 May 2007. The Standards Commission also produced explanatory notes which set out the requirements attaching to "other persons" and "third parties" at the Dáil general election. The public notice and explanatory notes were also published on the website of the Standards Commission. The explanatory notes were issued to anyone whom the Standards Commission considered may have been incurring expenses at the Dáil general election." [3.]

'The Campaign to Save Tara' is listed in the report as one of the organisations that had notified the Standards Commission in advance of their intention to incur election expenses, as required under section 31(7) of the Act. As the report states:

"Every person who incurred election expenses pursuant to section 31(7) of the Act was required to furnish an Election Expenses Statement to the Standards Commission by 19 July 2007. [4.]

However, the December 2007 report indicates that CST had not complied with this requirement, and issued a statement of intent to refer the matter to the Gardaí for a police investigation:

"An Election Expenses Statement has still not been received from either USI or from the Campaign to Save Tara. It is an offence under section 43(3)(b) of the Act for a person to whom section 31(7) of the Act applies to fail to furnish an Election Expenses Statement. If an Election Expenses Statement is not received, the Standards Commission will refer files on these organisations to the Gardaí for investigation. [5.]

The outcome of the investigation was never made public by SIPO or any former CST members, and it is not known if there was a final report by SIPO, or if CST voted to wind up operations, in lieu of making the report.

CST had been formed by a coalition of campaign groups, including TaraWatch, and some individuals, including Michael Canney of the Green Party, in January 2007. [6.] The only campaigner who refused to join CST as a founding member, and unite in common purpose, was Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, of NUI Maynooth, a long time Labour Party activist. Direct action began, shortly thereafter, and weekly meetings were held. After the group voted to pursue an election strategy, led by Michael Canney, TaraWatch withdrew,. Ni Bhrolchain immediately joined, and the Labour/Green Party alliance printed thousands of leaflets with campaign donations, in an effort to get people to vote for pro-Tara parties. But the emphasis was quite clearly on Labour/Greens, to the exclusion of Sinn Fein and others, as evidenced by the single event they put on, in co-operation with the Young Greens at NUI Maynooth, which featured Trevor Seargent. [7.]

During the course of the General Election campaign, Dr Pat Wallace, Director of the National Museum, who had publicly expressed grave concerns about the M3, wrote an unprecedented letter to The Irish Times, published Friday, May 25, 2007, in which he stated:

"Madam, - May I express my amazement and horror at the Campaign to Save Tara's use of my name and official position in their campaign to politicise efforts to re-route the proposed M3 motorway at Tara. My role has been, and is, to advise the Minister for the Environment, which I have done. My position precludes my ever becoming engaged in a politicised public controversy. My name has been used without my permission, or without any reference to the National Museum of Ireland." [8.]

TaraWatch members could only watch in horror, amazement and embarrassment has these events unfolded. TaraWatch had co-founded the CST group, and now were associated with it, even though TaraWatch had quietly withdrawn so as not to expose a split in the general campaign, and bring all Tara campaigners into disrepute. Then overnight, the Campaign to Save Tara reversed years of hard work, and turned what was a very popular and well-supported campaign into a national scandal, just weeks after TaraWatch withdrew.

Members of TaraWatch were then very surprised to read in The Irish Times on Jan 31 2009 [9.] that Campaign to Save Tara had made a submission to the Expert Advisory Panel set up by Minister Gormley, to review Ireland's Tentative List of UNESCO sites. Surprise turned to grave concern when it was learned that the submission made by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain only objected to "secondary developments" along the M3, in the Tara region, and did not object to Tara being made a World Heritage site, with the M3 in its current position. [10.]

TaraWatch's position was clearly stated in The Irish Times.com, breaking news story, the day before,on 30 Jan:

"We have nominated Tara to be a World Heritage Site, but only on condition that the M3 motorway is re-routed first. It would be a breach of the World Heritage Convention for Unesco to approve Tara, with the M3 going through the site," [11.]

However, the Jan 31 print version did not include the TarWatch statements, and only those of the non-existent CST, which did not demand that the M3 is re-routed, before it is made a UNESCO site. In other words, the months of campaigning by TaraWatch, the media campaign which included Ireland's leading artists, and the preparation of a 150 page submission, [12.] with mountains of supporting expert testimony, was negated by irresponsible actions of a third party, claiming to be speaking on behalf of the entire campaign and yet fundamentally agreeing with the Minister.

TaraWatch is the only Tara campaign body that had actively sought to get the public to take a position on UNESCO nomination, after Minister Gormley announced in April 2008 his intention to place Tara on the Tentative List, and his belief that the M3 would not interfere with nomination. [13.] TaraWatch actions in relation to lobbying UNESCO were specifically supported in writing by Seamus Heaney, Louis le Brocquy and Jim Fitzpatrick. [14.] A petition was published and circulated in July 2008 by TaraWatch which has been signed by over 3,000 people, including many prominent public figures. [15.] In addition, TaraWatch was the only campaign group to lobby the public to make submissions after the Minister announced the public consultation, on Dec 1, 2008, and set up the Expert Advisory Panel. [16.]

The in January 2009, the Meath Chronicle reported: "Campaign group TaraWatch is asking members of the public to participate in the consultation process regarding possible UNESCO designation of the Hill of Tara as a World Heritage Site. Submissions must be made to the Department of the Environment by 30th January, following the announcement by the Minister for the Environment on
1st December last that he is reviewing Ireland’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites." [17.]

Again, the TaraWatch position is clearly stated in the Meath Chronicle:

"TaraWatch is asking the public to make its views known, and to support the TaraWatch position, which is that the Hill of Tara is a site of outstanding universal value to humanity, and should be a UNESCO site; that the M3 motorway ruins the integrity of the site, because it passes through the complex of monuments to be protected and should be re-routed before Tara is given UNESCO status; and that it would be a breach of the UN World Heritage Convention for Ireland and UNESCO to designate Tara a World Heritage Site with the M3 passing through it." [18.]

However, Muireann Ni Bhrolchain and former members CST did nothing during these months to publicly campaign on the UNESCO issue. Ni Bhrolchain expressed only a personal opinion in her submission, which did not include any expert statements and did not include any legal argument or analysis. It simply proposed that Tara is declared a World Heritage Site, in order to protect it from secondary development. [19.] Further, she asked others on a mailing list, 2 days before the deadline, to also take this same position and send it to UNESCO, which would have the effect of further undermining the TaraWatch position, and bolstering the Ministers plan.

After the Irish Times story was published on Jan 31, Muireann Ni Bhrolchain expressed ignorance as to how the name Campaign to Save Tara had appeared in the paper. [20.] In fact, what had transpired was that TaraWatch had sent its submission to the Irish Times the afternoon of the 30th. After calling and receiving no answer on the TaraWatch number, the Irish Times rang Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, the former spokesperson for CST, who had sent out a press release the day before, under the name 'Tara Campaigners', a name which had never been used before, and a group that has never had any meetings or events of any kind.

The situation is even further clouded by the fact that the Campaign to Save Tara bank account is still open, and former CST members are still actively collecting campaign funds, under that name. [21.] It is extremely damaging to the campaign as a whole that a small number of former members of the CST group are trying to pass themselves off once more as the official Save Tara campaign group, and thereby undermining all of the actions and arguments of the thousands who support the TaraWatch actions and arguments. Yet, there is no accountability, whatsoever, on the part of these CST individuals. The submission that was made to the Minister directly undermines the TaraWatch position, and supports the Minister's position as it simply calls for Tara to be made a World Heritage site, with no demand for the M3 to be moved. Since the fundamental position of CST/'Tara Campaigners' front, as expressed by submission and statements of Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, is
exactly the same as that of the Minister for the Environment, TaraWatch condemns these unilateral actions outright.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to present theirs as the officially sanctioned position of the Tara campaign as a whole. That is why TaraWatch campaigned to get the public and all groups to make their own varied opinions directly to the Minister, in addition to signing a petition that specifically supports the TaraWatch position. [22.]

However, sending out press releases from a non-existent group, in an active attempt to speak for all Tara Campaigners and also to pre-empt the TaraWatch position in the media and with UNESCO, and the Minister ,is seen as a direct attack on the TaraWatch group and all of its supporters. Considering the arguments being put forth by Ni Bhrolchain will in no way result in any adequate protection of Tara, then they must be considered as a direct attack on the campaign as a whole, and must be exposed for the fallacy they are.

The small number of former CST members who operate in secrecy, and continue to pass themselves off as the representatives of the entire campaign have no mandate from either the public, other campaign bodies or the former members, to make public statements or submissions on their behalf, without prior consultation and approval.

Campaign to Save Tara, now trading as 'Save Tara Campaign' or 'Tara Campaigners', as well as 'Campaign to Save Tara', must cease and desist immediately from trading and issuing press statements, as it was formally and legally wound up by its own members over one year ago, and has no legal or moral right to act without their consent. Continuing to trade is potentially damaging to the former members, who may investigated and be held accountable for the actions of the active members, in the same manner they had been unwittingly exposed to criminal investigation and penalties for breach of The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, as amended by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001, (the Ethics Acts). [23.]

References:

1.