A chara, Glen Ding is a wood of some few hundred acres, about a mile and a half from Blessington, Co. Wicklow. Along with many others, I use it as an amenity and regularly walk there. It has a diversity of flora and fauna and is centred around the remains of a prehistoric settlement (Rath Turtle Moat).
Until your article of January 22nd ("Report identifies Viking site on rezoned land")I was ignorant of Roadstone's plans to "develop" 32.4 hectares of this land a sand and gravel quarry since then, I have conducted some research into the situation. Quite apart from a number of apparent anomalies relating to the sale of the land and its subsequent rezoning and quite apart from the loss of this amenity I am concerned that a site of great archaeological significance could be lost, if the development goes ahead as is currently planned.
I refer to the report submitted to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht by Dr Eoin Grogan, of the Archaeological Discovery Programme, which argues that the site of the proposed quarry could contain the remains of a rural Viking stronghold, something which would be invaluable in furthering our knowledge of this period in Irish history. I am also distinctly troubled by the fact that there is no legislation in existence which provides a coordinated approach to the issue of cultural preservation. Current procedures in this area appear to conform to no established set of guidelines, being dictated, it seems, largely by personal judgment.
I would like to urge the Minister of the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht to do two things one, to review the Glen Ding situation urgently and two, as a matter of priority, to draft legislation that ensures a systematic and coherent approach to the protection of sites of cultural and historical interest. I realise that in the current economic climate, any argument which smacks of being "anti development" is an unpopular one and likely to be viewed as the opinion of a nostalgic idealist.
However I believe that the notion of "development" which is held by our public servants and their corporate cronies is disastrously flawed, unbalanced and detrimental to the cultural life of this country and not only to the life of this generation, but to the generations which will come after us. Hopefully, if the Minister brings forward the appropriate legislation, an open debate on the model (or models) of development that this country should adopt will be conducted. Yours, etc.
Halfpenny Bridge House, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1.