Erecting Pylons on Private Land and the Irish Constitution
news....@googlemail.com
insists the cables through her private forest must be placed
underground. At 2.00 pm today she was brought to court to purge her
contempt. Do not know the outcome as yet. However, she is now justly
famous here and the drama is ongoing.
As today is Tree Day 2011, I got out the poster below as a tribute to
Teresa. Please circulate.
The Irish Daily Mail continue to give Teresa major coverage and backing.
There are lengthy pieces in today's edition. I consider some of the
remarks in one of those articles particularly noteworthy as they point
up how laws which are applicable to erecting pylons and their ilk across
private land, require urgent updating.
Imelda, Cork
Writing in today's (October 6, 2011) Irish Daily Mail, Victoria Mary
Clarke outlines some of the acute problems that arise for landowners in
Ireland due to the special constitutionally protected powers state
agencies have when it comes to erecting pylons on private lands. Here is
the relevant excerpt:
"people have argued and continue to argue that when we declared
ourselves a republic, we drew up a constitution, and this constitution
is sacrosanct. That constitution gives sweeping powers to the ESB
(Electricity Supply Board) to erect pylons if they deem it necessary to
do so. Pylons which are considered by a great many experts, including
the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., to pose a health risk to
people.
Pylons which could be replaced by underground cables. But because it is
in our constitution that State agencies have these powers, we must accede.
Like any other Irish citizen, I respect the law of the land. But as
Shane [her co-writer and fiancee] has said, we are an intelligent
people. And like any intelligent people, we have always been willing
to move with the times and if a certain law has become outmoded or
unworkable, we have had the sense to re-consider it." (page 14)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the attachment is the poster I have just done to celebrate
both international tree day and Teresa Treacy's cause.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
