Issue 2
December 1997
The Burren Action Group wishes all its supporters a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
The last year has been a busy one for the Group (see Mullaghmore Update). The campaign is now entering its eighth year (!) and the Group is still as determined as ever. On the positive side there is still no centre at Mullaghmore. It is now accepted by the Government that there should be visitor facilities placed in the villages but they are still determined to place a centre at Mullaghmore as well.
So we face into the New Year in the hope that we will be able, at long last, to put the dreadful plans for the Mullaghmore centre to rest and continue to assist in the development of sustainable plans for the Burren and all its people.
The Save Mullaghmore Annual Walk is on again. The walk is an important fund raiser. It is also important as a public demonstration of the Burren Action Group's commitment to stopping the development of the centre at Mullaghmore. At a time when there is an attempt by Minister de Valera to give the impression that there is progress being made towards resolving the controversy in the area it is essential that we have a good turn-out on the day.
If everyone who receives this contacts one other person and tries to get them to come along then it will help to ensure the success of the walk.
We'll be starting to the sound of the pipes at 12.30 p.m. at the end of the Green Road (just 100 yards from the illegal OPW development). There are two walking options (4 and 9 miles) and there will be shuttle service available for those who tire. Hot soup will be available at the half-way point.
Then we are going to meet at 5.30 for a session at Vaughans Pub in the "Barn" (Kilfenora) for food, drink, crack and mighty music by Eugene Lamb and friends.
The best way to start the New Year.
Nearly 300 shares in the Burren Acre Company have been sold since its launch in April of this year and the Burren Action Group would like to thank all those who purchased shares or sold shares to others.
But the rate of sales has dropped considerably in recent months and funds are still needed (for example the photocopying and posting of this newsletter costs almost £150). We've included an Acre brochure along with the newsletter in the hope that some supporters might be able to make another sale. Its for the best of good causes as they say.
On 11 July the Clare County Council finally acknowledged, after seven years, that the proposed development at Mullaghmore is in contravention of the County Development Plan. They published a notice in the Irish Independent newspaper announcing the proposed material contravention and giving the public three weeks in which to send in their comments to the Council's planning section. The Burren Action Group promptly informed its members by post of the Clare County Councils intentions and urged them to submit their comments. The County Councillors were to vote on the material contravention at their first meeting in September.
A County Development Plan is a public and legal document that details planning policy for each county. It is drawn up by County Planners in consultation with the County Councillors and the public. Where the County Planners feel that a proposed development contravenes the County Development Plan they must publish a notice to this effect in the a newspaper. They must also inform, in writing, anyone that has submitted written comments to the County Council's planning section about the proposed development.
In order to allow the granting of planning permission for a development which contravenes the County Development Plan two thirds of the County Councillors must vote to pass the motion of material contravention.
While the Clare County Council published a notice in the Irish Independent newspaper on 11 July that they intended voting on a material contravention for the Mullaghmore development and asking for public submissions they failed to inform each of the objectors in writing of this intention. The Burren Action Group immediately pointed this omission out to the Clare County Council. They responded by re-publishing the notice in the Irish Independent and informing all objectors (and there are several hundred) in writing of their intention to vote on the material contravention. The public was given three more weeks in which to send in their comments. The vote was postponed until 10 November.
There was some initial reluctance in the Clare County Council Planning Office to allow access to the file containing public submissions on the proposed material contravention. They were made freely available after a complaint was lodged by the Burren Action Group solicitor. There were 206 objections to the material contravention made on foot of the July notice in the papers.
On the 5th of November, just five days before the material contravention vote was to take place, the Chief Planner for Co. Clare, Mr. Ciarn Lynch, recommended to the elected Members of Clare County Council that planning permission for the Mullaghmore Centre be granted with several extraordinary conditions.
There are two important points to note in Mr Lynch's recommendations:
BAG were the first to recommend the development of village based National Park visitor facilities and we continue to support their development. After seven years and the publication of numerous reports and studies the OPW seem to have accepted this approach.
Both the County Council and the OPW continue to insist that a centre at Mullaghmore is required. Their arguments for this are very weak, as anyone who has read the various studies published on the matter can testify. They still are unable to convince the Heritage Council (the statutory body set up to advise the Minister on matters of policy) or any of the national and international conservation organisations of the need for a centre at Mullaghmore.
An appalling consequence of the linking together of the village based centres and the Mullaghmore centre is that no progress can be made in the villages until the Mullaghmore issue is resolved.
There was a vote scheduled for 10 November 1997 to determine whether the County Councillors would allow a contravention of their own County Development Plan in order to allow the granting of planning permission for the Mullaghmore centre.
In order for this motion to be passed a two thirds majority of the County Councillors would have to vote for it. It became obvious as the date for the vote approached that the requisite two thirds majority would not be obtained.
On 6 November the OPW sent a letter to the Count Council citing reasons why they felt that the Mullaghmore centre proposal did not contravene the County Development Plan. They also pointed out that should the Council require further time to consider the points raised in the letter they would consent to an extension of the time for the determination of the application.
The Fianna Fail majority in the Council Chamber came up with a panic strategy to avoid the impending loss of the material contravention vote (N.B. two-thirds majority needed). They submitted a motion that the vote be deferred for a period of six months, pending the consent of the OPW, on the spurious grounds that there was progress taking place between groups at Kilfenora, Corofin and Mullaghmore. This motion required only a straight majority to be passed.
The motion to defer the vote on the material contravention for six months was won. There were nineteen votes for the motion, eleven against and one abstention. There were not enough votes to have passed the motion of material contravention.
During the "debate" several Councillors noted that there were moves taking place on the ground to resolve conflicts between the different groups. The Burren Action has seen no evidence to date of any moves to resolve the conflict. On the contrary, if the development goes ahead with then the planning conditions proposed by Mr. Ciaran Lynch attached then the centre at Mullaghmore will be almost as substantial as that originally proposed by OPW.
The net effect of deferral of the vote on the material contravention is not to assist the development of village based centres but rather to delay any further positive moves for a period of six months.
The question arises as to what those who support the Mullaghmore proposal hope to gain by deferring the vote on the material contravention. In the short term they managed to avoid a humiliating defeat in the Council chamber. Had the material contravention vote gone ahead then it would not have been passed with the requisite two-thirds majority. The OPW would have had the opportunity of appealing to An Bord Pleanala.
The County Council is in the process of drawing up a new County Development Plan. It is possible that there will be an attempt to draw up this plan in such way that the Mullaghmore development will no longer be in contravention of it and there will then be no need for a vote on a motion of material contravention with its requirement for the unobtainable two thirds majority. The Burren Action Groups legal advise suggests that such a course would be fraught with legal difficulties for the County Council.
EC structural funding was withdrawn for the proposed development at Mullaghmore in the spring of this year. There is the possibility that the OPW will attempt to obtain EC funding for the Mullaghmore development and the village based centres together as a package. By the linking together the village based development and the Mullaghmore proposal in this way the developers may feel that they might then be able to convince some of the dissenting County Councillors to vote for the motion of material contravention and hence obtain the required two thirds majority in the County Council.
The Burren Action Group will continue to monitor events closely. We will be paying particular attention to the "peace initiative" mentioned during the debate in the Council chamber. We will also be calling on Minister de Valera to move forward with the development of village based facilities - and to stop attempting to link their development with some kind of face saving development for Mullaghmore.
The Burren Action Group has been criticised a number of times in the last few years for concentrating on the Mullaghmore issue and not involving itself directly in some of the other sustainable development and environmental issues in the County.
In a sense we are victims of our own success in this regard. How many would have bet that when the OPW's plans for Mullaghmore were announced in 1991 that in 1997 there would still be no centre,that national planning legislation would be altered as a result of the BAG campaign or that certain members of the Clare County Council would be adopting outrageous tactics to avoid a material contravention motion which was certain to fall. BAG has acquired a enviable level of expertise in the area of planning legislation, EU environmental legislation, PR and lobbying, sustainable development, international national parks practice and fund raising amongst others.
But fundamental to the campaign was the willingness of the seven plaintiffs to take on the huge financial risk of challenging the OPW in the courts. When they assumed this burden the other members of the group gave a commitment to support them in every way possible.
While the course that the campaign has taken has been long and complex the central issue is a relatively simple one - Mullaghmore is not an appropriate location for visitor facilities for the National Park. BAG is well aware of the high level of commitment and expertise which is required to take on the biggest firm in the country - the Government.
As long as the OPW continue to push for development at Mullaghmore then Burren Action Group will continue to concentrate its all energies and expertise on opposing them.