Petition: Knocknadala (Hill of Parliament) and the planned N6 Toll Road

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For the attention of:

The Officer in Charge

An Board Pleanala

64 Marlborough Street

Dublin 1

Your reference:

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS) OF PROPOSED N6 GALWAY TO EAST BALLINASLOE DUAL CARRIAGEWAY

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Dear Sir or Madam,

I am responding to the An Bord Pleanala invitation, which appeared in the August 13th 2004 edition of the Connacht Tribune Newspaper, to make written submissions regarding the above mentioned road which is now in the planning stage.

I wish to object to the present choice of route for this new road (through Knocknadala) for the following reasons:

1) As has already been pointed out - well over 3 years ago now - to several senior politicians, and to the National Roads Authority Project Engineer, this proposed road is scheduled to go right through Knocknadala (Hill of Parliament), which several local people (including myself) strongly suspect is at the heart of the biggest military defence system ever built anywhere by the Iron Age Celtic peoples. As can be seen at Internet address http://homepage.tinet.ie/~williamfinnerty/sd1.htm, this information was sent, both by e-mails and by registered letters, on March 5th 2001; and, the people the information was sent to include Prime Minister Ahern TD, Minister Michael McDowell TD, and President Mary McAleese. (For Ireland, the Iron Age roughly covers the period 500 B.C. to 500 A.D.)

Enclosed please find a copy of the book titled "Turoe and Athenry: Ancient Capitals of Celtic Ireland" by Fr. Tom O'Connor. This book expands on the information provided at the above Internet address, and I would ask An Bord Pleanala to please take careful note of its contents - for the simple reason that it contains much evidence in support of the above claim regarding a massive military defence system centred around Turoe & Knocknadala, and Athenry. It would appear, according to Fr O'Connor's many years of detailed research work on this subject, that the defence system in question covered an area which slightly exceeds the whole of what is now the eastern half of County Galway. If the massive structure described by Fr O'Connor was intended (in part) to be a deterrent, and as it is well known that people like Julius Caesar made extensive use of spies (often operating under the guise of harmless traders), then it would seem to have worked very well: in the sense that the leaders of the Roman Legions appear to have decided to leave Ireland alone.

Vercingetorix

Anybody familiar with the history of attacks on Iron Age Celtic peoples by the Roman Legions on mainland Europe, and in parts of what is now England, should not be too surprised that the Celtic leaders of the time would decide to construct a major military defence system half way down the coast of Ireland furthest away from Britain (using Galway Bay as a potential death-trap for any Roman war ships which might be used for an attack from the sea). Those not familiar with Iron Age Celtic history may wish to consider the basic facts connected with what was possibly the most decisive battle of the time (from a Celtic history viewpoint): The Battle of Alesia (near Dijon, France), which was fought in 52 B.C. This was where the Celtic leader Vercingetorix was defeated and taken captive by Julius Caesar (and ritually executed in public some years later in Rome). Sadly, and very misleadingly it seems to me, there appears to be little or no information on Vercingetorix at the present time in Irish history books. However, much information can now be found about him via the following Internet address: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Vercingetorix+%2B+Caesar&btnG=Google+Search

Also, there is historical evidence included in the above mentioned book by Fr O'Connor which strongly suggests that Turoe & Knocknadala, and nearby Athenry, formed the basis of an extremely important Iron Age Celtic royal site. This would explain why the Turoe Stone, which is widely believed to be the most important piece of Iron Age Celtic stone art in the world, is located at Turoe. Further information on the Turoe Stone can be found at: http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/protest/nov21_stone.htm

2) There is reason to believe that the present route for this proposed road is the direct result of wholly inappropriate interference by Minister Noel Treacy T.D. A written example of such interference, in the form of a letter dated 20th August 2001 to Mr Gerard Horgan B.E. (at MC O'Sullivan & Co Ltd), can be seen at the following Internet location: http://www.finnachta.com/Hotmail22Sept2004/MTL.htm

The powerful demands made - by just one single person - in the letter at the Internet address immediately above appears to completely negate "the right to participate from an early stage in environmental decision-making" (by ALL members of local communities): which forms a core part of the Aarhus Convention Agreement signed by the Republic of Ireland on June 25th 1998.

Despite the fact that Article 29 (Section 5, Point 1) of the Republic of Ireland clearly states that "Every international agreement to which the State becomes a party shall be laid before Dail Eireann", this does not appear to have happened in the case of the Aarhus Convention Agreement; and, the fact that it has not happened, further appears to represent a straightforward and very major violation (by Government) of "Bunreacht na hÉireann": i.e. the Primary Law of the Republic of Ireland.

I would ask An Bord Pleanala to please note that, to date, two separate efforts have been made by me to point out the Constitutional difficulty regarding the Aarhus Convention Agreement to large numbers of Oireachtas Members. My first attempt can be seen at http://www.finnachta.com/Oireachtas30June2004.htm ; and, the second is at: http://www.finnachta.com/Hotmail15Sept2004/OireachtasMembers.htm

3) I wish to also object to the present route for this road for all of the reasons I have already provided in the written petition I sent to the European Parliament on September 22nd 2003. These additional objections can be seen at http://www.finnachta.com/EuropeanParliamentPetition.htm. The European Parliament reference number is: Petition Number 1018 / 2003. I would be very grateful if An Bord Pleanala could take careful note of them as well please.

Later today I will send a printed (and signed) copy of this e-mail to you through the registered post.

Sometime within the coming few days, and partly for future reference purposes, I also intend to place copies of the text of this e-mail at the following two Internet addresses, both of which have translation facilities for several European languages:

http://www.finnachta.com/Hotmail22Sept2004/KnocknadalaN6.htm

and

http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/KnocknadalaN6Hotmail22Sept2004.htm

Yours sincerely,

William Finnerty

"St Albans"

New Inn

Ballinasloe

County Galway

Republic of Ireland

ENCLOSED: Copy of book by Fr Tom O'Connor titled: "Turoe & Athenry: Ancient Capitals of Celtic Ireland".


From :	William Finnerty <wfinnerty@eircom.net>
Sent :	Wednesday, September 22, 2004 12:22 PM
To :	"An Bord Pleanala" <bord@pleanala.ie>
CC :	<Enda.Kenny@oireachtas.ie>, <Pat.Rabbitte@oireachtas.ie>, <Trevor.Sargent@oireachtas.ie>, <Arthur.Morgan@oireachtas.ie>, "Vincent Salafia (Lawyer, Tara/Skreen Group)" <vsalafia@eircom.net>, "Rosemary Scallon (Eircom)" <danamep@eircom.net>, "Assistant Police Commissioner (Galway area)" <ekeating@iol.ie>, "Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy (Chief Commissioner of Police, Republic of Ireland)" <comstaff@iol.ie>, "President Mary McAleese" <webmaster@aras.irlgov.ie>, "Martin Cullen T.D. (Republic of Ireland Minister for the Environment and Local Government)" <press-office@environ.irlgov.ie>, "Minister for Justice (Michael McDowell TD)" <Michael.McDowell@oireachtas.ie>, "Prime Minister Bertie Ahern" <taoiseach@taoiseach.irlgov.ie>, Minister Éamon Ó Cuív T.D. <aire@pobail.ie>, "Michael D Higgins T.D." <michael_d_higgins@oireachtas.irlgov.ie>, "Minister Frank Fahey T.D." <Frank_Fahey@entemp.ie>, "Minister Noel Treacy TD" <noel.treacy@agriculture.gov.ie>, "Noel Grealish T.D." <glasscentregalway@eircom.net>, "Padraic.McCormack T.D." <Padraic.McCormack@finegael.ie>, "Paddy McHugh TD" <paddy.mchugh@oireachtas.irlgov.ie>, "Joe Callanan TD" <jcallanan@iolfree.ie>, "Paul Connaughton TD" <paul.connaughton@oireachtas.irlgov.ie>, <twalsh@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <tmchugh@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <sconnaughton@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <sbreathnach@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <phynes@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <mregan@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <mmullins@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <mhoade@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <mfahy@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <mconnolly@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <jmcdonagh@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <jjoyce@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <jcuddy@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <jconneely@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <connie.nifhatharta@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <tmannion@cllr.galwaycoco.ie>, <Mary.Harney@oireachtas.ie>, <Aengus.OSnodaigh@oireachtas.ie>, <Tony.Kett@oireachtas.ie>, "Senator Ulick Burke" <ulick.burke@oireachtas.ie>, "Environment Protection Agency" <info@epa.ie>, "An Taisce" <info@antaisce.org>, "Friends Of The Irish Environment" <admin@friendsoftheirishenvironment.net>, "VOICE of Irish Concern for the Environment" <avoice@iol.ie>, "The Democracy Commission (Ireland)" <democracycommission@tascnet.ie>, "TV3 (Republic of Ireland)" <info@tv3.ie>, "Tuam Herald" <editor@tuamherald.ie>, "The Irish Times" <lettersed@irish-times.ie>, "TG4 (Irish Language Station, Republic of Ireland)" <nuacht@tg4.ie>, "Sunday Business Post" <sbpost@iol.ie>, "RTE (Irish National TV Station)" <newsdesk@rte.ie>, "Keith Finnegan at Galway Bay FM (local radio)" <news@gbfm.galway.net>, "Irish Independent Newspapers (Unison Group)" <info@unison.ie>, "Irish Examiner Newspaper" <jill.osullivan@tcm.ie>, "Irish Emigrant Newspaper" <info@emigrant.ie>, "Ireland On Sunday" <news@irelandonsunday.com>, "Galway Independent Newspaper" < info@galwayindependent.com>, "Galway Advertiser Editor (Mr. Declan Varley)" <dvarley@galwayadvertiser.ie>, "Connacht Tribune Editor (Mr. John Cunningham)" <news@connacht-tribune.ie>, "Sunday World Newspaper" <mairead.kearns@sundayworld.com>, "Associated Press" <pr@ap.org>, "BBC NEWS" <newsonline@bbc.co.uk>, "CNN" <cnn@cnn.com>, "Reuters" <uki.media@reuters.com>, "Jim Higgins (MEP)" <Jim.Higgins@finegael.ie>, "Marian Harkin (MEP)" <marianh@marianharkin.com>, "Sean O'Neachtain (MEP)" <seanoneachtain@eircom.net>, "Stavros Dimas (EU Commissioner for Environment & Social Affairs)" <empl-info@cec.eu.int>, "Margot Wallstrom (Vice President of EU Commission)" <Margot.Wallstrom@cec.eu.int>, "Jose Manuel Barroso (President of EU Commission)" <press-web@cec.eu.int>, "New Inn Anti-Dump Chairman (Vincent Costello)" <repsvc@indigo.ie>, "Kilconnell Anti-Dump Group Secretary (Annette Gilchrist)" <kilconnellantidumpsecretary@yahoo.co.uk>, <GreenNWF@yahoogroups.com>, "An Taisce (Yahoo Discussion Group)" <atdiscussion@yahoogroups.com>, "Ann Marie Kelly Discussion Group" <annmariekelly@yahoogroups.com>, "CelticParty(Yahoo)" <TheCelticParty@yahoogroups.com>, "Green Party Ireland (Yahoo Group)" <greenireland@yahoogroups.com>, "Kilconnell Anti-Dump Internet Group" <KilconnellAntiDump@groups.msn.com>, "Nature Ireland" <natureireland@yahoogroups.com>, "New Inn AntiDump Internet Group" <NewInnAntiDump@groups.msn.com>, "Siobhan Nevin's Yahoo Group" <siobhannevin2004@yahoogroups.com>, "Tara / Skreen Group" <taraskreen@yahoogroups.com>, "Woodlawn House Preservation Society" <WoodlawnHousePreservationSociety@groups.msn.com>, "Enda Cannon (Senior Staff Officer, National Roads Authority, Galway County Council)" <nrdo@galwaycoco.ie>
Subject :	Proposed N6 Galway to East Ballinasloe Dual Carriageway

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Normal Mail: "St Albans", New Inn, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Republic of Ireland.

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billyfinnerty1945@hotmail.com

Web site design: William (Billy) Patrick Finnerty. Internet www addresses: http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/ or http://www.finnachta.com/ Email: wfinnerty@eircom.net or finnachta@finnachta.com

Normal Mail: "St Albans", New Inn, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Republic of Ireland.

Top of page PHONE (from Republic of Ireland): Ballinasloe (090) 9675825 Top of page FAX: Ballinasloe (090) 9675853 PHONE (International): 00 353 90 9675825 & FAX: 00 353 90 9675853

Web site design: William (Billy) Patrick Finnerty.

Internet www addresses:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/ or http://www.finnachta.com/

Email: wfinnerty@eircom.net or finnachta@finnachta.com

Top of page PHONE (from Republic of Ireland): Ballinasloe (090) 9675825 Top of page
FAX: Ballinasloe (090) 9675853

PHONE (International): 00 353 90 9675825 & FAX: 00 353 90 9675853