With reference to the letter dated October 8th 2001 which I
have received from Mr Helmut Betz, I notice that it contains no mention
at all of the letter I sent to him through the registered post on September
19th 2001. While I am truly grateful to Mr. Betz for all of his help, I am
at the same time somewhat concerned by the possibility that the Committee on
Petitions may not know anything about my letter to him of September 19th
2001.
In an effort to ensure that the Committee on Petitions are fully aware of
the background events which prompted my decision to seek help from the European
Parliament, I have recently attempted to very briefly outline the lead-up
to the present situation (as I perceive it) at the www page address immediately
below:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/ep/oct-8-2001.htm
Also, and as can be see at the above Internet page
location, Mr Betz's letter to me of October 8th 2001 gives no indication of
what I am petitioning the European Parliament about. While I fully
understand that he may have had to omit this information because of the procedures he
had to follow, I nevertheless feel that in this particular case it might lead to
numerous misunderstandings and much confusion later on. In an effort to
avoid such things, I hope it will not harm my petition to restate here
the main problems that I am seeking help for. I wish to list these as follows:
1)
Despite numerous written requests through the registered
post for corrective action (over a period of years), there are ongoing
illegal
sewage discharges going into a river in the middle of the village where I live -
two of which are coming from
schools, and all of which are a short
distance upstream from the area where the pumps for the local community
drinking
water supply are located.
2)
Although there are statute laws in place to protect
them, some
ancient heritage sites in the area where I live have been
completely destroyed (for no good reason that I know of); some have been
badly damaged; and many more are at present under serious threat in connection with
several major civil engineering projects now in the planning stage. One of these
projects involves a large new roadway designed to go straight through the
adjoining places named
Turoe and
Knocknadala. There
are a number of compelling reasons for believing that this particular area may well
have been one of the most important centres for the
Celtic Royalty
of Europe during a lengthy period around the time of
Christ.
The set of planned projects also includes the possibility of
having a new superdump located close to the world famous Turoe Stone;
and the plan is (presumably ?) that this superdump will be serviced by the large new
roadway mentioned in the paragraph above. For reasons best known to themselves, and
despite the VERY OBVIOUS presence of the Turoe Stone, there is no
indication I know of which would suggest that Irish archaeologists have any plans
whatsoever to examine the region using the modern electronic archaeological equipment now
available to them: even though the area in question is festooned with ancient monuments,
and the Turoe Stone itself is considered by many to be the best example of Celtic
stone-art in existence. (The style of the art which appears on the Turoe Stone
seems to leave no doubt at all that the craftspeople involved were very heavily influenced
by the large group of Celts who once lived around the La
Téne area of Switzerland - right in the heart of mainland
Europe.)
3)
Allowing for what I have related in the three
paragraphs immediately above, I cannot help feeling that certain individuals, and certain
groups of individuals, have somehow managed to:
a) put themselves
above the law; and,
b) sustain positions which enable them to
operate beyond the reach of the law. This situation seems to persist in
spite of the fact that a very wide range of people including
Prime
Minister Ahern,
President Mary McAleese,
Heritage
Minister Sile de Valera, and
Environment & Local Government
Minister Noel Dempsey have all been informed of the difficulties in a number
of letters addressed
DIRECTLY to them which were sent through the
registered post.
It is my understanding that its written Constitution is the
core legal document for the State of the Republic of Ireland,
and Article 40 of this document clearly says: "All citizens
shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law." Also, Article
20 of the "Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union"
seems even more clear, in that it consists entirely of the single sentence:"Everyone
is equal before the law". For me, these statements seem to mean
that no person or group has the right (or the authority) to be putting themselves above
the law, and/or beyond the reach of the law; or, to be providing concessions and
ongoing facilities for others to do so. In so far as these concerned involve
themselves in such things, they appear to me to be pushing other citizens (including
myself) down beneath the law: which I feel is a very disrespectful and abusive thing to do
to anybody. There also seems to me to be a very strong element of arrogance in
this kind of behaviour.
4)
There is the matter of my financial expenses in
connection with all of the work I have had to do so far in connection with the protection
of my own interests (as provided for me in the Constitution): in
circumstances where numerous people are already being paid from tax-payers money to
see that the laws of the State and the principles of the Constitution are enforced
and upheld. I have learned from a government publication that, under the written
Constitution of the Republic of Ireland, ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the
principles of the Constitution are upheld rests with the President (Mrs. Mary
McAleese). It seems to me that as far as the matters in question are concerned, I
have ended up (without wishing to) trying to do the job President McAleese and
her support staff are paid to do: while I have to work on my own for nothing, and
finance myself from my own savings ???
Finally, there is the matter of all the emotional upset that I have had to
go through up to now in trying to deal with the ongoing difficulties outlined above.
Further and more detailed information on the above matters
can be found at the web site address given at the end of this letter. It includes
photographic evidence which supports statements made above, and scanned copies of receipts
for letters sent through the registered post. Should you require any further information
from me, please let me know.
Later today, I intend to send a printed copy of this
e-mail letter to you through the registered post, and it would be much appreciated if
you could let me have written acknowledgement of receipt for it within the coming 21 days
please.
Allowing for the complexities of the overall situation, and the subtleties
of some of them, I trust you will understand that I would like to be completely clear in
my own mind that you are fully aware of the above information. At the same time, I
wish to stress that a simple written acknowledgement of receipt from you, for this
particular letter to you (dated October 31st 2001), is all that I need for the level of
clarification I have in mind.
Mr. William Finnerty, St. Albans, New Inn, Ballinasloe, County Galway,
Republic of Ireland.
