Bremore

Development never quite goes away, its often sneaked in under the door. There is an active FB page ....Save Bremore Heritage Group. NO PORT HERE! following the continuing saga..

Drogheda Port Company has re-submitted a major plan to extend the port’s boundary and develop a €300 million deepwater facility at Bremore in north Dublin.

The semi-state company made an earlier bid to develop the Bremore project, but critically it failed to obtain the approval of the former transport minister Noel Dempsey in 2009.

Any approval given to Drogheda’s plan might be seen to disadvantage Dublin Port, amid questions over whether the capital’s port should be expanded to meet future needs.

Drogheda Port Company is developing Bremore in a joint venture with Castlemarket Holdings, part of the Treasury Holdings Group.

The project would require a Ministerial Order from the next transport minister to sanction the widening of its boundary.

Drogheda Port Company carried out a public consultation in September 2009 on a proposed alteration of its harbour limits to include the area around Bremore.

No planning application has been made in relation to the project, but the joint venture partners are engaged in preplanning preparations.

Both Drogheda Port Company and Dublin Port Company are included on the list of semi-state bodies, including Bord Gáis and the ESB, whose assets and liabilities were the subject of a review by economist Colm McCarthy, with the potential for some of those agencies to be sold.

The previous bid to develop Drogheda Port boundary was complicated by legal concerns that were expressed by the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher.

Gallagher warned the government that it would be ‘’legally problematic’’ to extend Drogheda Port’s boundaries into north Dublin to permit it to develop the Bremore Port plan, given constraints that existed at the time on the powers which the minister possessed to make such a decision.

“However, the Attorney General’s concerns have been surpassed by the enactment of the Harbours (Amendment) Act 2009,which extended ministerial powers to alter a company’s harbour limits.”

Well I never, the word complicit comes to mind!!

thepost.ie/news/drogheda-port-company-revisits-e300m-expansion-at-bremore-54964.html

A change of mind, a change of politics or maybe a devilish plot.......

Port developers anxious to avoid ‘very significant‘
neolithic complex, writes FRANK MACDONALD , Environment Editor

A PROPOSED deepwater container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin may be moved farther north to Gormanston, Co Meath, to avoid encroaching on a neolithic complex of passage tombs.

A spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is planning to develop the new facility in partnership with Drogheda Port, confirmed yesterday that one of the options now being considered was to “shift it off Bremore headland” for archaeological reasons.

He said it had become clear at an early stage that the neolithic complex at Bremore was “very significant”, and the developers would be anxious to avoid it by examining alternative locations, such as Gormanston.

However, no final decision has been taken.

One of the constraints is that the Gormanston site is partly covered by an EU-designated special protection area (SPA) for wild birds.

It is also believed to contain another archaeological complex, though this is not thought to be as significant as the one located at Bremore.

“We’ve done a significant amount of preliminary work, including archaeological investigations by Margaret Gowen and Company,” the spokesman said, adding that Treasury would now be taking on an environmental specialist to assess the Gormanston option.

Treasury acquired options to purchase several landholdings at Bremore before entering into partnership with Drogheda Port, but it is understood the company holds none for Gormanston.

Land in the area would be cheaper to acquire now due to the property crash.

“We now have to work through the environmental issues as well as the cultural heritage and archaeological issues,” the spokesman said.

He added that Treasury and its partners would be consulting with “all the various interests”, such as An Taisce, which it has met already.

It is likely to be autumn before a firmer proposal will be put out for consultation.

“Ireland needs a deepwater port; the IDA (Industrial Development Authority) is conscious that we are losing projects because we don’t have one,” according to the spokesman.

An Taisce’s monuments and antiquities committee has warned that any port development at Bremore would “completely obliterate a passage tomb cemetery of neolithic date with affinities to Newgrange and a mid-16th century historic harbour site”.

Commenting on the possibility that it could be relocated to Gormanston, committee chairman Dr Mark Clinton said it would be likely to affect a sandy beach “most beloved in the locality” and shoreline that forms part of the river Nanny SPA.

Any such plan would require a full assessment of its environmental effects to be prepared and placed before the public prior to being approved.

“It would appear that the exact opposite of these legal requirements is in motion,” Dr Clinton said.

He also queried the need for a new port, noting that throughput at Drogheda Port had fallen by 50 per cent in 2008, according to its most recent set of accounts, while business at Dublin Port was down by 10 per cent.

“There is no need for a new deepwater port,” he said.

irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0223/1224265036102.html

Gordon Kingston on The Heritage Journal
Bremore: Proposed Port Site to change to Gormanston?

heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/bremore-proposed-port-site-to-change-to-gormanston/

The Drogheda Independent carries the latest news from the Save Bremore campaign...

“THE Save Bremore Heritage campaign got under way with a very positive and informative meeting in the Huntsman’s Inn Gormanston.

Representatives of a number of different local and regional groups met to discuss the planned deep water port and its possible impact on that area of archaeological richness...”

Article continues...

drogheda-independent.ie/news/new-road-to-port-would-be-vital-2067124.html

A CAMPAIGN to Save Bremore claims the coastal strip on the Meath/Dublin border may be one of the richest archaeological areas in Ireland, with aspects comparable to the Hill of Tara.

Among the heritage sites in locality is the Bremore passage tomb complex – a designated national monument – a series of several unclassified monuments in the Knocknagin townland and the mid-16th-century Newhaven Bay.

Drogheda Port and companies associated with Treasury Holdings have earmarked the area for the development of a deepwater port, industrial units, a motorway link to the M1 and a new rail link to the main Dublin-Belfast railway.

According to archaeologist Prof George Eogan: “Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/east Meath and the Boyne Valley area.”

Save Bremore claims the Bremore passage tomb and adjacent Gormanston passage tomb should be considered within the greater context of passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange.

The group quoted from archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton of An Taisce’s national monuments and antiquities committee, who has said that one mound at the tomb complex had an entrance orientation indicating the possibility that it was aligned with the summer solstice.

“In this regard, and given their morphology and geographical location, there’s every possibility the builders were the near ancestors of those that built the nearby world-acclaimed tombs of Brú na Bóinne [the Boyne Valley tombs].”

Dr Clinton said archaeologically, Bremore was comparable with Tara. “Tara started with a passage tomb known as the Mound of the Hostages and developed over different periods: likewise the Bremore tombs would appear to be the start of Brú na Bóinne.

“The parallel is clear – no Mound of the Hostages, no Tara; no Bremore, no Newgrange.”

Attempts to contact the developers of the proposed deep sea port were unsuccessful yesterday.

The Treasury Holdings website quotes managing director John Bruder as saying Bremore had enormous development potential and is one of the most exciting real estate developments available.

irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1221/1224261043449.html

More information here;

heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/save-bremore-campaign/

Bremore. Quo Vadis

By Gordon Kingston, Heritage Action

By 2007 Ireland’s booming economy and growth in demand for construction materials, was causing increased capacity pressure at the ten ports along its Eastern seaboard. One obvious consequence of this was the “Port Tunnel”, a new access to the largest port, in Dublin, which was constructed at enormous public expense, €752 million, to ease the traffic congestion caused by heavy goods vehicles in the city. A further modification proposed to address the capacity problem was an expansion of the port, a concept requiring the infilling of 52 acres of Dublin Bay. This idea, initially suggested in 1988, is currently under consideration by An Bord Pleanala.

In the meantime Drogheda Port Company came up with its own proposal, a new large-capacity, deep water port at Bremore and entered into a government-approved joint venture for the project with Castle Market Holdings Ltd.. Castle Market Holdings is owned, via Real Estate Opportunities Ltd., by Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan’s Treasury Holdings, one of the largest developers in Ireland and a company with a long track record of “unwillingness to back down in the face of legal threats.....

read on.......

heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/bremore-quo-vadis/

An Taisce and Dr. Mark Clinton warn of the threat posed by the proposed extension for the development of Drogheda Port. Less than a week left to object.

“The forces are powerful but we must try, at least. Try not to stand by and let it happen again.”

heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/bremore-renewed-threat-to-passage-tombs/

The decision to move large parts of the proposed port infrastructure at Bremore, North Dublin, away from an area containing a cluster of Stone Age passage tombs is a vindication for the heritage conservation lobby, an expert on ancient Ireland has said.

Anthony Murphy, author of ‘Island of the Setting Sun – In Search of Ireland’s Ancient Astronomers’, says that the planning decision avoids a probable decade-long battle between the archaeological community and the project’s developers.

“Clearly, the backers of this proposal understand the nature and sensitivity of the archaeological complex at Bremore, and the scale of the legal battle which they would have to engage in if they proceeded with this flawed plan,” said Mr. Murphy.

Some campaigners had identified the Bremore port as “the next M3 battle”.

“The Bremore complex is a cluster of passage-tombs, many examples of which are over 5,000 years old. Any proposal which would envisage the large-scale development in close proximity to such monuments is clearly untenable,” said Mr. Murphy.

Other passage-tomb complexes in Ireland include the world heritage site at Brú na Bóinne, incorporating the best-known examples of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. Further examples are found on the hills of Loughcrew in Meath and at Carrowmore and Carrowkeel in Sligo.

“We are not dealing with a humble ringfort or souterrain here. Bremore is a site of national, if not international, importance, and utterly deserves conservation as a surviving remnant of a very distant age.”

Mr. Murphy, whose book attempts to unravel the purpose of ancient passage mounds by providing a thought-provoking merger of the studies of archaeology, astronomy and folklore, says a definitive plan for the preservation and protection of the Bremore monuments should now be put in place.

“These sites should not be just left to rot and decay in the landscape. We need a real plan to protect them for future generations. Other passage-tombs a short distance away at the Delvin estuary were destroyed as the sea encroached upon the coastline. Clearly, we don’t want this to happen at Bremore.”

“The whole debacle over the construction of the M3 motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley shows that at Government level, there has been little or no concern for Ireland’s ancient heritage, and development will come no matter what the cost.”

“However, there are a growing band of people, myself included, who believe we can have development and jobs and keep our heritage also. There are significant benefits to protecting, preserving and promoting our ancient sites, not least from a tourism perspective.”

“The latest news about Bremore is very welcome. It vindicates the stance taken by many groups, individuals and academics over the past decade relating to the route of the M3. While some may feel the M3 battle is lost, clearly the Bremore decision indicates that much greater consideration will be given to heritage sites in the future.”

“The cynical way of looking at this is that those involved just want to avoid lengthy legal battles and project delays, but the ultimate outcome is that Bremore will be saved from the awful fate which developers and some archaeologists call ‘Preservation by Record’, but which others call ‘Destruction by Documentation’.”

This is a victory for common sense and a good decision by the port’s backers. What it means is that the project may not now be delayed by legal moves and in fact the jobs will come sooner rather than later.

ENDS

A major change in planning for the new €300 million port at Bremore in north Co Dublin will result in large parts of the infrastructure for the port being transferred from Fingal into County Meath because of the presence of important archaeological monuments on the original site, the Meath Chronicle has learned.

The Drogheda Port Company, in partnership with Castle Market Holdings, intends building a new deepwater port on several hundreds acres at Bremore, close to Balbriggan. While the project will go ahead and is at an advanced stage of planning, large sections of the warehousing, storage and logistical support infrastructure will be shifted away from the site at Bremore, which is the location for a passage tomb cemetery or cluster.

A reliable source told the Meath Chronicle yesterday: “You can take it that the original site for the very large amount of infrastructure required for a port of this size is no longer under consideration. This will be a commercial decision made by the port company itself and will not be imposed by anyone else. It will be taken on the basis that the passage tomb cemetery will remain untouched, and will not be surrounded by industrial and logistical development.”

The same source said that while the deepwater facility would be located offshore from Bremore, the logistical structures would be shifted across the border into Meath but would would not be located as far north as the former Irish Air Corps base at Gormanston.

Just over three years ago, Meath County Council rezoned 240 acres of land at Gormanston for industrial and logistics development in the East Meath Development Plan. At the time, Meath County Manager Tom Dowling said that the local authority had opted for industrial zoning due to the potential synergies with the port’s development. He told local representatives that the zoning would be a significant opportunity for Meath to generate employment and benefit from the new port.

The possible location of the new port at Bremore has exercised the interest of archaeologists and historians over a number of years. Meath archaeologist George Eogan has said that the site was of “vast historic importance” and may be the site where St Patrick first landed in Ireland. He said that the Bremore site contained a unified prehistoric cemetery of mounds that extends for over a mile from Gormanston, which is north of the Delvin river, to Bremore, located to the south.

“It has the appearance of being a landing place for early people coming to Ireland and passage tombs were the likely burial places for people coming from the Iberian peninsula,” he said.

Anthony Murphy, author of ‘Island of the Setting Sun’ said yesterday (Tuesday) that passage tomb cemeteries, or clusters, were very rare. Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth were examples, as were Loughcrew in Meath, Carrowmore and Carrowkeel in Sligo. “There is no doubt but that Bremore is an extremely important site nationally, if not internationally,” he said.

Designated as a national monument in 1976, a group of five mounds is situated at the north-east corner of a rocky headland one mile north of Balbriggan.

The site, which comprises of several hundred acres, contains the remnants of a number of passage tombs and practically every field, which is the site for the new Drogheda Port Company facility, contains early Neolithic archaeology.

The site at Bremore has not been excavated but was surveyed by Professor Etienne Rynne of NUI Galway almost 50 years ago.

mythicalireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=536

Expert lashes Bremore port location

“Speaking at a recent meeting of the Balbriggan Historical Society, Professor George Eogan said the area on both sides of the Delvin River from Gormanston to Bremore is a large Megalithic cemetery dating from 3,500BC.

He said this has been recorded, researched and written about for well over 100 years and added the mounds on this site are legally protected under the National Monuments Act of 1930.

The meeting was attended by a number of luminaries including former Green Party leader Trevor Sergeant and the Fingal County Manager.

Prof Eogan believes that Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area.

He has written a detailed report on the history of the area and the historical value of the site at Bremore.

Local historian Brendan Matthews has also expressed his concerns about the development of a new port on such a historical site and raised the issue as far back as 2005.

He said that in the immediate vicinity of the proposed deep-water port, there are the remains of at least five megalithic tombs or burial chambers, while to the north of Bremore there are the remains of at least another six tombs scattered over a wide area from Knocknagin to Lowther Lodge.

However, responding to the professor’s report and lecture, CEO of Drogheda Port, Paul Fleming said they recognise that there is archaeology at Bremore and will deal with it in an upfront and professional manner.

He said the archaeology of the site was just one element in what was a complicated and multi-faceted site selection process which took two years to complete.

Other factors included the importance of the deep water site, the road network and accessibility, the absence of any major residential activity, the availability of a landbank and the environmental impact in terms of its carbon footprint, he said.The archaeology is just one of the elements involved and we will deal with that in an upfront way. We have engaged our consultants who will carry out an environmental impact study (EIS) and they will be working with us over the next six to nine months, he said.We intend to deal with the archaeology in a world-class manner and we will, of course, take on board anything said by Professor Eogan.”

drogheda-independent.ie/news/expert-lashes-bremore-port-location-1400894.html

Even though the Bremore monuments have been the subject of a protective order for decades, discussion of a new deepwater port site at Bremore poses a threat to their preservation. The port proposal is entering into the planning process... Read the full story in the Meath Chronicle.