The Greenstar Dump - They were wrong...

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday October 13, 2005 10:30

by Ciaran Hughes, on behalf of John Porter

ciaran_hughes at yahoo dot co dot uk

Caherawoneen, Kinvara, County Galway

087-9652992

On several accounts Greenstar admit they were wrong

On Tuesday September 22 Local farmer Brendan Kelly, while on his way to his land via a right of way his family have used for generations, found his way blocked by a digger and dumper belonging to the developers of the proposed landfill site in Killconnell. He discovered to his surprise that Greenstar intended to remove part of the right of way and divert him through lands leased by Greenstar to gain access to his lands, in order to build a new access road for the dump. There was no consultation with Mr. Kelly prior to this, nor with any of the other dozen or so local people that used that right of way. Mr. Kelly immediately told the workers that they had no right to work on the right of way, citing his rights and duties under Local Agenda 21 and the Aarhus Convention.

Local people and politicians

On Tuesday September 22 Local farmer Brendan Kelly, while on his way to his land via a right of way his family have used for generations, found his way blocked by a digger and dumper belonging to the developers of the proposed landfill site in Killconnell. He discovered to his surprise that Greenstar intended to remove part of the right of way and divert him through lands leased by Greenstar to gain access to his lands, in order to build a new access road for the dump. There was no consultation with Mr. Kelly prior to this, nor with any of the other dozen or so local people that used that right of way. Mr. Kelly immediately told the workers that they had no right to work on the right of way, citing his rights and duties under Local Agenda 21 and the Aarhus Convention.

The right of way in question has been used for generations by the local community and leads directly to a Killeen (children's burial ground). It is interesting to note that the name of this area is Killaghmore which some people have taken to mean Big Burial Ground. There are also turbary access rights on this road and neither Mr Kelly, the local community or the people with turbary access new of Greenstar’s plans to cut off the right of way.

Mr Kelly was threatened with injunctions and jail but continued to stop Greenstar destroying his Right of Way. After failing to get any help from his local TDs and Councillors, Mr Kelly contacted Kathy Synnott MEP. Kathy visited the site on Sunday (Nov 27) morning and at very short notice was greeted by a group on concerned local people. Ms. Synnott promised to take this matter up in the European Parliament.

On Monday (Nov 28) again Greenstar attempted to destroy the ancient mass path. Again Mr. Kelly blocked them. The Gardaí were present and acted as liaison officers between Greenstar and the local community. Greenstar told the Gardaí that they owned the road, and there was an injunction against Mr Kelly and others from blocking them. Mr Kelly stood in front of the Greenstar machines regardless and in the presence of the Gardaí stopped them from working, again quoting Local Agenda 21 and the Aarhus Convention.

A full-scale stand-off then ensued, which resulted in Mr. Kelly and other community members blocking work on the right of way from 7am until 8pm, until Greenstar agreed to meet with concerned members of the community, Mr Kelly, and those with turbary rights. This meeting happened on Friday last (Oct 7). On the day of the meeting, several NGOs converged on the site of the dump in support of the local community, including the Woodland League, Shell to Sea, CELT, Derrybrien Development Society, People against Pesticides and local members of the Green Party.

At the meeting, Greenstar agreed that they had no right to hinder anyone from using this right of way. They failed to answer questions about their Public Consultations or their EIA. They refused to tell from whom they bought the right of way, or if they ever owned or could have owned the right of way. They refused to say whether their new access road was through leased land, or whether they could move the public road on to private land (an act that is illegal). The result of the meeting was that the local community agreed to allow Greenstar to bring a single JCB on to the right of way once to put up a fence for reasons of safety. Otherwise they could not disturb the surface of the road until the concerns of the Local Community were addressed to everyone’s satisfaction. Green star agreed to supply information and answer questions through the offices of the representatives of the Local Community present, being TDs Paul Connaughton (FG) and Joe Callanan (FF) and Councillors Michael Mullins (FG) and Dermot Connolly (Sinn Fein).

This is just a single step in a much larger issue. Watch out for more on Indymedia.

Other articles on the same issue:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72344