Some news from the bog action group.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984
“Heritage Week began a little early in Barroughter & Clonmoylan Bogs this year. We dedicate this picture of the newly cut turf, spread on OUR RAISED BOG in Clonmoylan to HERITAGE Minister Jimmy Deenihan T.D. This is OUR HERITAGE Jimmy and you will never ever take it from us. You failed pathetically & miserably in OUR bogs again this year.”
Barroughter & Clonmoylan Bogs Action Group are highlighting the continued harassment of rural people on County Galway. This harassment is to be condemned and highlighted. Locals going to Church on Sunday faced harassment and intimidation. This must not be allowed to continue. In the face of this intimidation and harassment, stay calm and maintain your integrity.
How tragic to the see the “Guardians of the Peace” become the political police of the EU.
Click on the link for the audio.
http://www.shannonside.ie/news/tcca-welcomes-court-decision-to-strike-out-charges/
Friday, July 12th, 2013 at 8:00 am
The Turfcutters and Contractors Association says the striking out of charges against three turf contractors in court yesterday is a step forward.
Chair of the TCCA Michael Fitzmaurice says the decision by Judge Seamus Hughes at Mullingar District Court moves them closer to completely vindicating their rights on the issue.
Three brothers, Thomas, Brian and Edward McGahern of Cloncovid, Kilcogy, Cavan appeared at Mullingar District Court yesterday in relation to charges that they had cut turf at Moneybeg, Finea on May 31st 2012.
Gardaí applied to have the matter heard summarily before the District Court but Judge Seamus Hughes refused saying he was not in a position to make a decision as to jurisdiction.
He said there was insufficient information before the court as to seriousness or otherwise of the charges noting the absence of NPWS representatives in court.
In striking out the charges, Shannonside News understands that Judge Hughes queried the legality of the prosecution of turf cutters.
The decision follows a separate hearing earlier this week in which Judge Hughes called on the Minister Jimmy Deenihan to allow him to distribute illegally cut turf to the “needy of Longford” instead of returning it to the bog as prescribed by the Department.
Speaking to Shannonside News, after Judge Hughes’ decision in Mullingar District Court, Chair of the TCCA Michael Fitzmaurice welcomed the decision:
(Picket outside office of Jimmy Deenihan in Listowel)
This is the bog that Minister Jimmy Deenihan continues to try and spin as being the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the relocation bogs. The reality is people don’t wish to relocate, they wish to continue cutting their turf on private land. Later this month two men will appear in court in Listowel.
Turf has been cut in the ‘model bog’. The owners of the bog have maintained their right to cut turf. Jimmy Deenihan, Paul Connaughton Jr, and Ciaran Cannon are running back to Europe with their tails between their legs.
The people of South-East Galway have shown they won’t be bullied at the behest of the EU. Same for the folk in Kerry and across the country as demonstrated by the various turf-cutting banners on display yesterday in Galway.
What was very noticeable yesterday was the absence of politicians from the establishment parties, the old gang politics, who have sold the Irish out. It needs to be replaced by a community politics, a decentralised politics of looking beyond left versus right, looking at what is right, and opposing what is wrong. The people in their community uphold what is best for their community. A real sense of social justice and freedom. A community rooted in the family and traditional values and ways.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984
A very short video slideshow of the solidarity gathering held earlier in Galway. The men are back in court on 17th December and each of the men faces a separate trial with a jury. On 23rd July, two men will appear in court in Listowel. Please support these two men.
The message from Thought and Action is simple. Continue to cut your turf and maintain the Tradition. Well done to the organisers of the solidarity gathering and as always a special thank you to all who travelled long distances to support the four men. There was fantastic support from local people on the streets of Galway city.
Some people cave in under State persecution whilst others get stronger in their determination to preserve their tradition and heritage. This was demonstrated recently at Carrownaguppal Bog in Mountbellew, Co. Galway. Described as a ‘Jewel in the Crown’ by the NPWS, which also confirmed that turf has been cut successfully in nine of the fifty three bogs. In the week that European Commissioner Janez Potočnik visited Ireland, how fitting it was that the bog owners and turf-cutters upheld their constitutional right to cut turf on their legally owned private property bog plots.
This is good news for rural Ireland and it shows the Irish people are willing to stand up to the unelected bullies in the EU. It shows also that the relocation scheme in Mountbellew is dead “in the bog hole water” as one bog action group has described it.
A successful and well attended solidarity gathering took place outside Listowel District Court earlier today in support of two men appearing in court. They will appear in court again on 23 July. After the court hearing there was a march through the streets of Listowel to the constituency office of Jimmy Deenihan (Fine Gael). A second march then took place and afterwards people met for a well earned cup of tea and something to eat.
Many travelled long distances to support John O’Connor and Chris McCarthy. Various bog action groups were represented including the Ardraigue, Barroughter, & Clonmoylan Bogs Action Group. Later this month (28th May) four men from Galway will appear in court in Galway. A solidarity gathering will take place and a large crowd is expected in the "City of the Tribes" in support of the four men. Between now and then, do spread the word among your friends and assist in every possible way.
Some photographs from Listowel
(River Feale)
Some further good news from Carrownagappul Bog
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984
“This is the way it's going to be in every bog this summer. This is Carrownaguppal Bog. Fergal O'Coigligh, Assistant Secretary General at Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht in charge of NPWS pronounced at the Peatlands Forum that this bog showed a spirit of good community relations between the turf cutters and NPWS. What a lie to tell. You now have your answer Fergal & we hope Commissioner Janez Potocnik noticed your ineptitude this week when he was in Dublin. It was good that the turf was cut in your "Model Bog" while he was here. Don't break the news to Deenihan just yet, he is still sleeping on the job. The 2013 crop is just great black turf.”
“THE VIEW FROM THE HIGH BANK in CARROWNAGUPPAL BOG. Some of the beautiful turf cut recently in the "NPWS Model Bog". NPWS tried to trick the private property bog owners into relocating to an inferior bog. NPWS Director Conor O'Raghallaigh held this bog up as a model at the Peatlands Forum and expected all the rest of us to be fools and not know what NPWS are about. More turf will be cut in this bog and in every other bog this year and the silly boy Conor will not stop us.”
“More news from Carrownaguppal Bog (Mountbellew). This bog formed the basis for the Mountbellew Accord. Conor O'Raghallaigh, the Director of NPWS came to this bog and in a blaze of publicity said that there would be no more turf cut on this bog and that this bog was the template for all other so called SAC's. As is your form Conor you told a lie. Below is shown the 2013 crop of beautiful black turf cut recently in Carrownaguppal Bog. Well done to all concerned. Conor will not walk on rural Irish people.”
Some news from the turf-cutters.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984
“GREAT NEWS for the turf cutters, the bog owners and the people of Ireland. Once again the West is Awake. Carrownaguppal Bog near Mountbellew, Co. Galway was held up high by the NPWS, Jimmy Deenihan, Ciaran Cannon and the Kenny Government as their model bog for relocation and how to brow beat bog owners from their private property bogs. In the week when EU Commissioner Janez Potočnik was in Ireland the good people of Mountbellew and surrounding areas went back from their so called relocation bog and CUT TURF ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY BOG. Well done to all concerned. We hope that the Commissioner spotted the ineptitude of the NPWS and Deenihan - neither of whom want a settlement. More details later.”
The 20th and 21st of June will mark the first anniversary of what has become known as the Siege of Clonmoylan. See below for a report on events of 20/21 June 2012.
That the Armed Support Units were present is a disgrace in itself. The month of May, the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also the month when the Irish people recall the executions of the patriots of 1916. Did these men, the cleanest and bravest, fight and die only for the Irish to be living in an oligarchy, the servile state, where people are slaves? Are the Irish going to sit back and be dictated to by unelected bureaucrats in the EU, whose only loyalty is to International Finance and big business?
You are encouraged to ask questions of your local politician. They knocked on your door at the last election. By using this link http://www.contact.ie/city-county-councils/galway-county-councillors you can email all the county councillors in Galway. Also phone them and speak to them face to face. For All TDs http://www.contact.ie/national-politicians/contact-all-tds
Never, in the history of peacetime Ireland was such State aggression shown against a small rural parish as was carried out by two Fine Gael Ministers, Alan Shatter and Jimmy Deenihan in Clonmoylan on June 20th and 21st last year. These two men would do well to reflect on the principles and ideals of the great people who founded our Nation. Over the years, no Garda ever had to visit this tranquil rural law abiding community to investigate crime. The only Garda mode of transport not in Clonmoylan that night was the helicopter and the Peelers on Horseback. The two fully loaded Armed Support Units were deployed against innocent people. The right of every Irish citizen to pass and repass on the roadway was infringed that night. Such State aggression that night put an end to good Garda Community Relations. They even called out the Red Community Relations van to help steal the machinery.
Two men from Kerry are to appear in court on 9th May. Later in the month (28th May) four men are to appear in court in Galway. Aerial monitoring continues and the Department vows to continue using aircraft to fly over homes in rural Ireland. Also resources must be questioned as up to 50 Gardai were present in Loughrea in Co. Galway when the four men appeared in court. This comes at a time when elderly people are being beaten and robbed in their own homes in rural Ireland.
Our message to the turf-cutters is to continue using your constitutional right to cut turf on your own land. A weekly picket takes place outside the constituency office of Jimmy Deenihan in Listowel.
Thought and Action is encouraging people to show support for the men both in Kerry on the 9th May and in Galway on the 28th May. Regarding the ‘rangers’, they are trespassing if found on private property. Don’t let them enter your property. Keep calm, keep a level head but above all cut your turf and tell the EU to sod off.
With four turf-cutters in court in Galway on 28th May, there is a weekly picket outside the constituency office of Jimmy Deenihan in Listowel, Co. Kerry. The picket is every Saturday from 11am to 1pm. You are encouraged the support the Kerry turf-cutters. The Kerry Brigade has been very good in travelling to Co. Galway in solidarity with their fellow countrymen and women facing down intimidation over their right to cut turf in their own community.
http://www.turfcuttersandcontractors.com/
Fighting for YOUR right to cut Turf in the Republic of Ireland
Press Release
The news that four turf cutters have been sent summonses for doing what people have done for centuries is a final betrayal from a government which came to power on the back of a series of lies. As with so many organisations in the country the TCCA has been betrayed. The Taoiseach himself in a conversation with our Chairperson Michael Fitzmaurice in February of last year informed him that "turf cutters had been wronged". Well if that is the case then why make the same mistakes all over again. In fact our Taoiseach has gone so far as to describe our Chairperson as a "patriot". Our organisation happens to agree. He has however a funny way of treating a patriot.
The recommendations of Judge Quirks’ report on the peat lands forum have been ignored. He described turf cutters as "hardworking, decent, respectable and law abiding citizens". This is not how we are being treated.
The TCCA has painstakingly put together detailed proposals which were accepted by our members. These were passed by Dáil Eireann on March 7th of last year. They had previously been described by Minister Deenihan as "That's the way designations should have been done in the first place".
If the government wants this situation resolved it needs to start listening to "patriots" like Michael Fitzmaurice. It need to follow through on its commitments made in Dáil Eireann on March 7th last. It needs to really start listening to the stakeholders and to stop the intimidation and threats. After sixteen years and €750 million, successive government have failed to resolve a single bog with active turf cutters. At this stage it should have become obvious that the only way of resolving this issue is to work with the stakeholders.
Last year people were constantly warned that they would face penalties to farm grants and outright prosecution if they cut their turf. This did succeed in bullying some people into applying for the compensation package. However the majority resisted and at the end of what was an atrociously wet year 26 out of the 29 SAC bogs which had been cut in 2011 were subsequently cut in 2012. As is the norm in any given year there was less cutting on some of these bogs and on others there was more activity.
One such example of a bog where more turf was cut is Moanveanlough in County Kerry. This bog happens to be in the neighbourhood of Minister Jimmy Deenihan. The curious thing for turf cutters in this and many other areas is how so many have apparently taken compensation yet at the same time so many are still cutting turf. Moanveanlough bog is a good example of this. Even though more people cut turf in 2012 than in 2011, 27 are still recorded as having applied for compensation. So either the department are paying people who do not satisfy the criteria of the scheme or they are massaging the figured to make the compensation scheme appear more successful than it actually is.
We have as an organisation fought this battle through many different fora. We will now it appears fight it through the courts. As always we are ready for the battle.
The TCCA are now asking all politicians regardless of political persuasion to condemn the act of summoning ordinary decent people to court for doing what they have for centuries. We are also asking that government politicians, who got elected on the back of promises to turf cutters which have now been reneged upon, to resign with immediate effect.
Regardless of threats of state intimidation against its own citizens we will again this year continue to do what we have for centuries. We will when the weather permits be vindicating our rights. We will not be run off our lands.
This is all very interesting.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984
“IRISH STATE NEGLECT - Redwood Bog, Co.Tipperary June 2012. BURNT TO A CINDER, 80 acres of precious Habitats Directive species while the bog was being "managed by the NPWS. It suited F.I.E. (Friends???? of the Irish Environment) not to see this destruction during their flyovers in the white Cesna. They did not report this State neglect to the EU Commission. Jackson did not mention it at the Petitions Committee hearing (he had such a bad day there anyway as their video shows) He forgot to tell Conor O' Raghaillaigh, who was at the meeting (he had problems explaining PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS at the hearing.) His Ranger Meskell could not deal with the fire because it "WAS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY" (Media interview with him) F.I.E. did not report it to the EPA. (State Agency) The now famous F.I.E.WEBCAMS in the bog did not pick up the destruction. Remember the Lowes WEBCAMS? He had them installed in all 53 bogs last May. (Register of bog damage website - remember it?) Bring back the people who really care for their bogs and the species therein and forget about the office environ - mental ists.”
“Total destruction of 80 acres of species protected in the Habitats Directive. This picture (and other pictures) clearly shows how this bog was "MANAGED" during their first year in charge of its protection by the NPWS. They appear to have no fire prevention or fire control plan for any of the 53 bogs. The NPWS did nothing about it like calling the fire brigade or putting out the fire. FIE conviently did not notice or report this disgraceful destruction during their much publicised fly overs and ariel pictures. It appears that FIE did not report this to the EU Commission or Jackson did not mention it at the EU petitions hearing. FIE would not and did not report or highlight this STATE NEGLECT of a "PROTECTED EUROPEAN SITE"”
PRIVATELY OWNED PROPERTY at Redwood Bog, Co. Tipperary. This picture shows how the bog was managed last year by Minister Deenihan and the NPWS. They allowed 80 acres of protected species under the Habitats Directive to be destroyed while in their care. NPWS Ranger Eamonn Meskell is in charge of this bog. When this fire took place last June Meskell spent most of his time in Co. Galway trying to make criminals of his fellow bog owners. Minister Shatter allowed the Irish Air Corps to fly twice daily, every day over this bog with NPWS photographers on board. None of the state forces could call a fire brigade to put the fire out. Is this the management plan for protecting the 53 private property bogs under Deenihan and NPWS?
REDWOOD BOG Co. Tipperary. This bog is supposed to be in the hands of Jimmy Deenihan T.D. for protection. He thinks he can protect all the species listed in the Habitats Directive that are in this privately owned bog better than the people who own it. So he puts it in the hands of his little elves in the NPWS and puts Ranger Eamonn Meskell in charge of the job. Last June a fire burned for days in the bog as the picture shows. The Media asked Meskell why he did not deal with the fire and protect the species that he was supposed to be minding. Meskell replied "Can't go there PRIVATE PROPERTY". Last June, Meskell was too busy cutting turf on an active raised bog at Anaholty bog with a DIGGER and HOPPER for himself and trying his best to make criminals of his fellow turf cutters. So Deenihan now has this bog well protected with over 80 acres of the species he thinks he can protect gone up in smoke and he still thinks he can do it better than the owners who had kept it in such pristine condition. No sign of the so called environ - mentalists either, these wee fellas with the shiney wellies and clipboards.
