Kilconnell Anti-Dump Public Meeting of December 8th 2003

17Dec2003

To: Paul Connaughton TD ; Joe Callanan TD ; Paddy McHugh TD ; Padraic.McCormack T.D. ; Noel Grealish T.D. ; Minister Noel Treacy TD ; Minister Frank Fahey T.D. ; Michael D Higgins T.D. ; Éamon Ó Cuív T.D. ; Rosemary Scallon (Member of European Parliament) ; Joe McCartin (Member of European Parliament) ; Sean O'Neachtain (Member of European Parliament)

Cc: CelticParty(Yahoo) ; Kilconnell Anti-Dump Internet Group ; William Finnerty (Yahoo) ; AA2 Self (Hotmail) ; AA1 Self (Eircom) ; Margot Wallstrom (European Union Environment Commissioner)

Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 4:48 PM

Subject: [Celtic Party] Bribery, Article 28A (Republic of Ireland Constitution), & the EU Aarhus Convention.

Dear Galway TDs and Connacht MEPs,

I would like you all to please note that in the objection (copied below) which I sent the day before yesterday to the Environment Protection Agency regarding the planned rubbish dump for Kilconnell, I pointed out two separate cases of BRIBERY involving National Toll Roads.

As far as I know, the Government is still allowing National Toll Roads to get away unchallenged regarding BOTH of those bribery matters: which does not seem right to me. By failing completely to challenge National Toll Roads regarding their bribery activities, it appears to me that the Government is making a very powerful public statement to the effect that: "Bribery and corruption is okay as far as we are concerned".

I have a particular interest in this bribery business because National Toll Roads are (as I see it) very heavily involved in both of the planned rubbish dumps (for New Inn and Kilconnell) which are now scheduled to be located close to my home. I believe they almost completely own Greenstar (who have been given permission for the Kilconnell dump by Galway County Council), and they are also major participants I understand in the PPP scheme associated with the planned N6 Upgrade road designed to feed the Government superdump scheduled for location at Cross (in the New Inn area).

Also, and for the reasons already given to the three East Galway TDs listed in the e-mail below (Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 2:11 PM), I believe that the part of Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002 which removes all power from local politicians regarding the location of large rubbish dumps in the communities they represent is COMPLETELY in breach of both Article 28A of our Constitution, and the EU Aarhus Convention principles which Ms Margot Wallstrom (EU Commissioner) has been making public statements about for some considerable time now.

Consequently, I further believe that Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002 is not worth the paper it is written on: as far VALID law is concerned. The only proper way to decide this now (that I can guess at) is for the Supreme Court to have a good look at the whole situation: which is what I believe President Mary McAleese should have asked them to do in the first place - BEFORE she signed the papers which allowed the Bill in question to ever become the "spurious / bastard law" that it is (in my opinion); and, which Galway County Council, and others, continue to treat as legitimate law. The fact that President McAleese is herself a lawyer, and would know all of this far better than most other people, makes this whole ongoing situation entirely outrageous (in my view).

It would be very much appreciated if you would all carefully consider the contents of this e-mail please, and help out with whatever is needed in the way of corrective action.

Your sincerely,

Mr William Finnerty.

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----- Original Message -----

15Dec2003

From: Wexford Receptionist (Environment Protection Agency)

To: 'William Finnerty'

Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 4:36 PM

Subject: RE: Article 28A (Republic of Ireland Constitution), & the Aarhus Convention.

Dear Mr Finnerty,

Your correspondence of 15 Dec has been forwarded to the relevant person/office for attention.

Thank you and regards,

Ann Rochford

Environmental Protection Agency,

Headquarters,

An Ghniomhaireacht um Chaomhnu Comhshaoil

P.O. Box3 000,

Johnstown Castle Estate,

Co. Wexford, Ireland.

Tel: 00353 53 60600

Fax: 00353 53 60699

Website: http://www.epa.ie

email: info@epa.ie

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-----Original Message-----
From: William Finnerty [mailto:wfinnerty@eircom.net]
Sent: 15 December 2003 16:29
To: Environment Protection Agency
Cc: Margot Wallstrom (European Union Environment Commissioner); William Finnerty (Yahoo); AA2 Self (Hotmail); AA1 Self (Eircom); FriendsOfTheIrishEnvironment(Admin); Friends of the Irish Environment (Tony Lowes); Heritage Council (Ireland); An Taisce; VOICE of Irish Concern for the Environment; Bord Pleanala
Subject: Article 28A (Republic of Ireland Constitution), & the Aarhus Convention.

To: Environment Protection Agency

Re: Objection to Greenstar (Celtic Waste) / National Toll Roads rubbish-dump at Kilconnell, County Galway.

EPA reference: 178-1

Dear Environment Protection Agency,

I wish to object to Greenstar (Celtic Waste) / National Toll Roads being given an EPA licence for a rubbish dump at Kilconnell, County Galway.

For the reasons stated in my e-mail below (sent on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 2:11 PM) to the four East Galway politicians, I believe that the "Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002" is in breach of Article 28A of the written Constitution of the Republic of Ireland. Consequently, I further believe that the decision by unelected Galway County Council managers to grant permission to Greenstar for this dump - which COMPLETELY excluded the opposing views and wishes of all the locally elected county councillors in Galway - is not legally valid: by virtue of the fact that this decision depends entirely (for its authority) on Waste Management Amendment Act 2002 being legally valid.

I am also aware of two separate allegations of bribery connected with National Toll Roads (which very largely owns Greenstar, I believe). One involves Mr P. Lohan, the Chairman of the Kilconnell Anti-Dump Committee (who I believe was offered €50,000 to resign from his job as Chairman); and, the other involves the Flood Tribunal - which I understand found that National Toll Roads bribed a Mr. George Redmond some years ago.

I have already brought the matter of the €50,000 bribe to the attention of Prime Minister Ahern, and requested an investigation into the matter. Please see:

http://www.finnachta.com/CorruptionInvestigationRequest.htm (I assume Prime Minister Ahern does not need me to inform him about the National Toll Roads bribe to Mr. Redmond: which I gather has been recorded in the Flood Tribunal report.)

Finally, I wish to state that I believe it was COMPLETELY in breach of the EU Aarhus Convention principles to totally exclude local people, and local politicians, from the decision-making process which resulted in Galway County Council managers recently granting permission to Greenstar to locate their rubbish dump in Kilconnell.

Sincerely,

Mr William Finnerty.

(Address information can be found below.)

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----- Original Message -----

From: William Finnerty

To: CelticParty(Yahoo) ; Green Party (Yahoo Group) ; Kilconnell Anti-Dump Internet Group ; Nature Ireland ; Tara / Skreen Group

Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 8:44 PM

Subject: [Tara/Skreen] Article 28A (Republic of Ireland Constitution), & the Aarhus Convention.

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----- Original Message -----

11Dec2003

From: William Finnerty

Cc: Margot Wallstrom (European Union Environment Commissioner) ; AA1 Self (Eircom) ; AA2 Self (Hotmail) ; William Finnerty (Yahoo)

Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 12:01 PM

Subject: Fw: Article 28A of Irish Constitution, & the Aarhus Convention.

Dear Galway County Councillors,

Following last Monday's sudden announcement that New Inn (where my home is located) has yet AGAIN become the prime target for a HUGE rubbish dump (possibly a SUPERDUMP for the whole of Connacht), it would be much appreciated if you could all please give some consideration to the requests I made below to Deputy Joe Callanan T.D., Deputy Paul Connaughton T.D., Deputy Paddy McHugh T.D. and Galway County Councillor Michael Mullins at the Kilconnell Anti-Dump Meeting last Monday evening (i.e. December 8th 2003).

Sincerely,

Mr William Finnerty.

PS: The list of e-mail addresses I have used above for Galway County Councillors, which I assume is complete and up-to-date, has come from the Internet address immediately below:
http://www.galway.ie/councill/meet_councillors.asp

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----- Original Message -----

From: William Finnerty

To: Mr. Vincent Costello (Bullaun/New Inn Anti-Superdump Committee)

Cc: Dunkellen Group (Bullaun) ; Dunkellen Group (New Inn) ; Dunkellen Group (Woodlawn) ; Galway Safe Environment Group ; Mr. David McGann (New Inn Community Council Representative) ; Newbridge Anti-Superdump Committee) ; Brendan/Helen Kelly

Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 2:36 PM

Subject: Fw: Article 28A of Irish Constitution, & the Aarhus Convention.

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9Dec2003 LocalPoliticians

----- Original Message -----

From: William Finnerty

To: Joe Callanan TD ; Paul Connaughton TD ; Paddy McHugh TD ; Councillor Michael Mullins

Cc: Margot Wallstrom (European Union Environment Commissioner) ; William Finnerty (Yahoo) ; AA2 Self (Hotmail) ; AA1 Self (Eircom)

Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 2:11 PM

Subject: Article 28A of Irish Constitution, & the Aarhus Convention.

Dear Deputy Callanan T.D., Deputy Connaughton T.D., Deputy McHugh T.D., and Councillor Mullins,

As I mentioned to all four of you at the end of last night's Anti-Dump Meeting in Kilconnell, I have long believed that Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002 is in breach of Article 28A of the written Constitution of the Republic of Ireland. This is because of the fact that it completely removes all power from the democratically elected local government politicians regarding important local community matters connected with the location of huge rubbish dumps (e.g. those now planned for Kilconnell and New Inn), and instead places it entirely in the hands of UNELECTED County Council managers.

The content of Article 28A (Item 1) of our written Constitution reads as follows: "The State recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the democratic representation of local communities, in exercising and performing at local level powers and functions conferred by law and in promoting by its initiatives the interests of such communities."

In view of the sudden shock announcement yesterday that New Inn is now the number 1 target for a superdump for Connacht, and as you all stated in public at last night's meeting that you would be willing to help in any way you could, I would be very grateful if you (and ALL of your political colleagues in local and central government) would now ask to have the constitutionality of Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002 reviewed please.

With regard to the above request, I am very conscious of the fact that where there is doubt regarding the introduction of a new law, President Mary McAleese (the present guardian of our written Constitution) has at her disposal the very easy option of referring to the Supreme Court for guidance; and, that although former Justice Minister Nora Owen (who was a T.D. at the time) asked in Parliament to have the constitutionality of Waste Management (Amendment) Act checked by the Supreme Court, President McAleese did not do so: for reasons which continue to be a VERY disturbing and growing source of mystery and suspicion for me.

I would also like to know where Irish politicians stand in regard to the very closely related matter of the Aarhus Convention? To date, it seems to me that ALL Irish politicians, and ALL of the Irish "mass-media" organisations, are acting as though they never even heard of the Aarhus Convention: even though people like EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom have been making public statements about this EXTREMELY important set of social and environmental principles for some considerable time now?

General information regarding the Aarhus Convention can be found at:
http://www.finnachta.com/TheAarhusConvention.htm

In the most recent public statement I have seen attributed to Ms Wallstrom on the Aarhus Convention, I find it very interesting that she has used the word "now" in the following sentence: "Citizens will NOW be able to act as environmental watchdogs!" The full context of Ms Wallstrom's sentence can be seen at:
http://www.celticparty.com

How, I wonder, can we function effectively as environmental watchdogs if the democratically elected politicians we vote for have all their relevant power and authority removed by laws such as Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002?

I look forward to hearing from you regarding the above two matters (i.e. Article 28A and the Aarhus Convention): both of which I see as being COMPLETELY above party politics.

Yours sincerely,

Mr William Finnerty.

Postal address:

"St Albans"

New Inn

Ballinasloe

County Galway.

PS: For future reference, I intend to place a copy of this e-mail at the following Internet location later today:

http://www.finnachta.com/Kilconnell8Dec2003.htm

Also, the problem with the Waste Management (Amendment) Act has already been brought to the attention of the European Parliament. Please see:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~kellybrendan/petition1/feb-1-2002.htm

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	<<< Request to have corruption investigated: >>> (Made on July 11th 2003) http://www.finnachta.com/CorruptionInvestigationRequest.htm


	EU Directive 97/11/EC: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eia/full-legal-text/9711.htm Please Note: Point 3, in Annex IV seems particularly important: "A description of the aspects of the environment likely to be significantly affected by the proposed project, including, in particular, population, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets, including the architectural and archaeological heritage, landscape and the inter-relationship between the above factors."


	Environmental Assessment "Environmental assessment is a procedure that ensures that the environmental implications of decisions are taken into account before the decisions are made." http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eia/home.htm


	Information on petitioning the European Parliament

	Direct link to EU web site: http://www.europarl.eu.int/petition/help_en.htm Procedure for submitting a petition to the European Parliament


	Sample of petition sent to the European Parliament on September 22nd 2003

	The petition at the address below concerns the plan to put the new N6 Galway/Dublin Upgrade Road right through the middle of the Celtic "Iron Age" oppidium centred around Turoe & Knocknadala: which is thought to be the first to date to be identified in Ireland, and possibly the largest (by far) of all the 40 or so Celtic oppida yet found outside Ireland - in places like England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and Hungry. http://www.finnachta.com/EuropeanParliamentPetition.htm


	The European Valetta Convention

	The Republic of Ireland ratified the European Valetta Convention (European Treaty Series 143) on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage in 1997. Article 5, ii), b) seems particularly relevant to development projects such as roads: "the allocation of sufficient time and resources for an appropriate scientific study to be made of the site and for its findings to be published". http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/publications/urbanarch/appe.html


	"Telling it like it is"

	This publication reviews progress in the Republic of Ireland during the first 10 years following the 1992 Rio Earth Summit Conference. Through the use of 34 stories it strongly suggests (on page 8) that: "In spite of millions of Euros in spending and international co-operation of a degree and depth never before seen, the agreements of Rio 92 have not translated into on-the-ground changes". http://www.finnachta.com/TuroeKnocknadalaPetition/index.html#pdf


	"Confucius say (on world order) ... "

	"To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; To put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; To put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; And to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right." Confucius (551-479 B.C.) Confucius on: \| War \| Politicians \| Problem Solving \| Good Citizenship \| http://www.google.com/search?q=Confucius&btnG=Google+Search

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