The Office of Public Works offered no opposition to the Department of Energy's controversial sale of Glen Ding Woods in Co Wicklow and its development as a gravel pit. An area listed on the Sites and Monuments Records located on the Blessington land was inspected by an OPW archaeologist three years before the sale went through, and was said to have no archaeological importance, The Irish Times has learned.
This site (SMR5:11) is now at the centre of a major row between the Blessington Heritage Trust and the OPW as to whether it was "delisted" prior to the sale.
Earlier this year, the present chief archaeologist, Mr David Sweetman, informed Wicklow County Council that SMR5:11 should be archaeologically excavated prior to any quarrying of the land.
Pressure is mounting on the Government to include the £1.25 million sale of Glen Ding Woods to Cement Roadstone Holdings Ltd and the rezoning of the area by Wicklow County Council in the terms of reference of the Moriarty Tribunal. At the time of the sale, Mr Des Traynor was chairman of CRH and the Taoiseach was Mr Charles Haughey.
CRH has strongly denied that the late Mr Traynor played any role in the purchase of the valuable State land.
The former minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Michael D. Higgins, told The Irish Times yesterday he was never informed that SMR5:11 had been inspected by the OPW in 1988, or that the OPW had been asked to advise the Department about the development of Glen Ding Woods as a gravel pit.
Mr Frank Corcoran, chairman of the Blessington Heritage Trust, said knowledge of the 1988 inspection had been withheld from an investigation of SMR5:11 by Mr Higgins: "In view of this new information, the Government should put an end to this continuing cover-up and allow the Moriarty Tribunal to investigate the sale and rezoning of Glen Ding, otherwise a national asset will be lost forever." On June 28th, 1988, the Department of Energy wrote informing the OPW that it intended to offer for sale land which contained "a substantial gravel pit."
The Department understood that the area contained two sites of archaeological interest and the advice of the OPW was sought in relation to "the sale and development of the gravel pit."
The OPW archaeologist inspected SMR5:11 on July 5th, and concluded it was merely a "dried up pond or small lake" of no archaeological importance.
The area known as Rath Turtle Moat was, however, a large ringfort with possible Viking associations and he advised that it be taken over from the Forestry Service and maintained.
In an internal report, the archaeologist added that he would have "no objection to gravel-digging in the remainder of the area" and, as the gravel pit would be "very large and ugly looking, the trees growing to the north and east of the monument should be retained for screening purposes".
A spokesman for the Department of Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands said last week that SMR5:11 was "not part of the built heritage", but stressed that it had never been delisted.