My response to Minister Gormley's reply to Marcin Libicki:

With all due respect to the minister, this response is assinine.

In particular, I would point to several comments:

> As it is not open to me to review or reverse these directions, I have a
> responsibility to ensure that the excavation is carried out in
accordance
> with best archaeological practice, and that any potential damage to the
site
> is avoided.

Pause here for a moment, if you will, dear reader, and consider the meaning
of the word "excavate". To excavate an archaeological site it is neccessary
to remove the topsoil, expose the site to the elements, remove any artefacts
found, and in most cases dig through upper layers of the site to reveal
those below, perhaps three or four layers down, depending on the nature of
the site.

The effect of excavation is to destroy the site.

I think readers will appreciate that exposing a site to the elements and
removing all artefacts goes beyond "potential damage" and becomes actual,
predictable, inevitable damage. Further, going beyond this and removing
upper layers of remains to access those beneath goes beyond actual,
predicable, inevitable damage and can only be described as destruction of
the upper layer or layers. The minister is right of course to be concerned
about "potential damage". I would, however, request that his fellow party
members advise him that equal or greater concern ought to be directed
towards the actual, predictable, inevitable damage and destruction of the
site.

The good name of the Green Party has been hard won over the last 20-odd
years. It was awareness of issues like the above that gave us confidence in
the Green Party, and gave us hope for the future. This feels like your
parner of twenty years is having an affair.

> It is important to point out that the advice I have received from the
expert
> committee is that the monument at Lismullen is in a very vulnerable
> condition, could not sustain or withstand preservation in situ and
that,
> therefore, excavation is desirable and in the best interests of the
> archaeological remains. It is therefore most urgent that these
excavations
> begin as soon as conditions allow, as recommended by the expert
committee.
> I am enclosing a copy of this committee’s report for your information.

This statement is deeply upsetting. The site has survived for several
thousand years despite the ongoing use of the land for agricultural
purposes. What places Lismullen "in a very vulnerable condition" is the fact
that a motorway is about to be run through the heart of it.

Nothing else threatens preservation in situ.

The minister has agreed with Fianna Fail to bot contest the work on the M3
along the current route and therefore, as this route runs through Lismullen,
he cannot contest the inevitable, predictable damage this work will cause.
With this as an a priori condition, the site is not simply "in a very
vulnerable condition" but due for imminent destruction. Under these
conditions, there is no doubt that preservation in situ is simply
impossible. Excavation of the entire site is the only way to preserve some
record of what is about to be lost.

The minister cannot but be aware that the site has survived for thousands of
years and also be aware that it is only the work currently being carried out
for the M3 that has placed it in danger. To present a recommendation for
complete excavation with Conor Newman's name on it goes beyond disingenuous.
Prof Newman has stood against this work from the outset.

This is not what Green Party voters voted for.

> However, as you will appreciate, the immediate
> issue of avoiding damage to the vulnerable site at Lismullen
> must be the overriding concern, so it is my intention that the
> recommendations of the Lismullen Advisory Committee be
> pursued as soon as they consider appropriate.

The site has already been damaged. The site is, because the Green Party
minister has not contended the appropriateness or ethics of the current M3
route, due for destruction. These have been given to the Lismullen Advisory
Committee as a priori conditions for their study and report. With these
conditions set, they have no choice but to recommend that as thurough a
record as possible is gained prior to the now inevitable destruction of the
site. Once again it seems appropriate to restate that "avoiding damage"
utterly misrepresents the situation. The site will be destroyed.

> Your letter asks for urgent action to halt existing works in this area
and
> to review the routing of this section of the M3 motorway. As
responsibility
> for the works, and for the routing of the motorway, lies with the
National
> Roads Authority, I have forwarded a copy of your letter to the Minister
for
> Transport, Noel Dempsey TD, for consideration. I should point out that
the
> motorway works at this location have indeed stopped, and will not
recommence
> until excavations of the national monument at Lismullen are complete.

The minister has, throughout this letter, failed to respond in any way to
the clear, unequivocal statement, which was itself a repeat of previous
statements to the same effect, that the current M3 works in their entirety
constitute an infringement of EU law. It is not a matter of passing on
comments for "consideration". The only authority as regards interpretation
of EU law is the EU itself. The EU position on this matter is that the M3
words are illegal under EU law. There is no case here for consideration.
Clearly, the action required must come from minister Dempsey, not minister
Gormley. Nonetheless, the minister has ignored the explicit advice of the EU
as regards the illegality of the M3 works. It is not the role of minister
Gormley to pass on a letter for consideration. His role and duty as an EU
citizen is to advise minister Dempsey of the illegality of these works.

That the roadbuilding work on the Lismullen area has ceased is not a matter
of any surprise. The little remaining protection for Irish heritage sites
still left states that, where a site is due to be damaged or destroyed by
building or other works, that portion of the site affected must be fully
excavated. Thus, the current situation is simply in compliance with current
national law. Further, the recommendations of the Lismullen Advisory
Committee can now also be understood as nothing more than a statement that
current national legislation must be complied with. They have been so
utterly hamstrung by a priori conditions laid down as part of the definition
of their remit that they have been unable to make any recommendations beyond
this: "national law must be complied with". This hardly constitutes a
finding.

A duty now lies with all members of the Green Party to take clear, urgent
action on this matter. Terrible damage has been done to the Green Party. It
is now time for action. Years of slowly building up credibility in the eyes
of the Irish people are being cast away daily as the current Green Party
ministers demonstrate that the Green Party is, in fact, little more than an
environmental sub-committee of the Fianna Fail party.

This is not what we voted for.

This is not what the Irish people want.

This is not what the Green Party need.

Ultimately, we will all suffer as lost grants, legal costs, fines and clawed
back funding are retrieved by the EU from Ireland. Our taxes will pay for
the illegal activities of those in government.

This is not what we voted for.

This is not what the Irish people want.

This is not what the Green Party need.

With respect,

Stiofan macAmhalghaidh