BATTLE-LINES are being drawn in a developing conservation controversy at the Glen Of The Downs in Co. Wicklow.
In a move that brings Swampy -style direct action to Ireland, environmental activists have begun erecting tree-houses in the famous beauty spot, which they intend to occupy as part of a protest campaign against the building of a new motorway there.
However, activists who have spoken to Hot Press are anxious that the nature of their protest should not detract from the importance of their stance.
We have serious reservations about talking to the media at all, admits one of the activists at the deciduous valley and nature reserve near Bray in Co. Wicklow. We re aware that sensationalist reports about us might create unwarranted hysteria, and obscure the really important thing that s at stake here which is the imminent destruction of one of the few remaining native deciduous forests on the east coast of Ireland.
The campaigner (she wishes to remain nameless) is one of a group who ve set up camp in Glen Of The Downs, where 2,000 trees are due for the chop in order to make room for Euro-Route 1, an EC-funded motorway running from Madrid to Belfast. In an effort to prevent what they see as the unnecessary devastation of a precious natural environment, the campaigners are building houses in the trees that are marked to come down, and formulating what may become a legal case against the proposed motorway.
Plans for the four-lane motorway through the Glen which is a State nature reserve, ironically have been in existence since the early 90s. Opposition first emerged in the shape of the Glen Of The Downs Campaign group, which was chaired by Green Party member Alex Perkins and comprised local people on the whole. They insisted that the Wicklow County Council adjust their plans for the motorway in order to lessen the chronic environmental damage which those plans originally proposed. But while that achieved its objectives, the latest wave of campaigners now argue that the ecological, social and even financial costs are too great to countenance the four-lane motorway being built at all. They have taken a radical stance over what may turn into the first major pro-tree/anti-road campaign in Ireland.
The motorway plans double the width of the existing N11, eating into the nature reserve on both sides of the road. According to the protesters, a brook running along the edge of the forest will be diverted in several places through underground pipes; in the areas where it is allowed to remain above ground, there s a high risk that it will become so silted up during building, and so poisoned from the toxins produced by the massive increase in car numbers, that it will stop providing the lifeblood needed by the wildlife of the area.
The loss of the 2,000 trees themselves is terrible, says a campaigner. Many Sessile Oak trees will be cut down, one of the rarest trees in Ireland. But the knock-on effects to all the other plant and wildlife will also be catastrophic. Already it s very difficult to cross the road from one side of the forest to the other and that s just with two lanes of traffic. Imagine the badgers and foxes and deer trying to get across four lanes of cars going at even faster speeds! There s no doubt that the animal road-kill will be chronic if they build a four-lane motorway through here.
Aside from environmental considerations, the campaigners believe that it is not in the interests of the nation as a whole to invest #18.5 million in a motorway which, they argue, is completely unnecessary.
The main argument for widening of the road is to save travel time, says the campaigner. But this argument is crazy only 30 seconds of travel time will be saved on the way through the Glen Of The Downs. Is this worth spending #18.5 million on? And in the process ruining a beautiful national resource that hundreds of people enjoy every weekend? Because the whole look and sound of the Glen Of The Downs will be drastically altered for the worse.
If construction goes ahead, it ll probably take several years to complete, because it s a massive job and as well as that, the country s largest water mains runs right beneath the road. The current level of traffic going through will still be trying to get past as the new motorway s being built, causing extremely dangerous driving conditions. It ll be the largest traffic jam on the east coast of Ireland, and this place will look apocalyptic.
This place is a designated nature reserve, but apparently even that gives it zero protection. Indeed, there s an official sign at the entrance to the Glen Of The Downs which reads: Wildlife Act 1976. National Nature Reserve. Please do not disturb the animals or plants in this area.
I ask the campaigners why they might feel threatened by how the media reports on their work at the Glen Of The Downs.
Exaggerated or sensationalist reporting may well try to make us out to be a bunch of degenerates, they say. But we re actually a group of very concerned and responsible people, trying to stop in the most direct way that we can, since the matter is so urgent the building of what we see as a highly destructive and unnecessary motorway. We believe that if the motorway goes ahead it ll go against the interests and welfare of the Irish people as well as the Irish environment.
We are very serious about what we re doing. We have a lot of support. But if the media makes us out to be a bunch of drug-crazed head-the-balls, it may give the police the excuse they need to come down very hard on us. n