Gormley refuses to stop to talk to protesters
Áine Ryan
“ON YOUR BIKE. Turf cutting is our heritage. Green Economy. We’ll soon have no economy. Farmers must be protected, not birds.”
A wall of silence, peppered with placards, greeted Green Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, as his entourage arrived at the new Ballycroy National Park Visitor Centre last Friday afternoon. The fact that Minister Gormley failed to stop at the gateway to accept a letter from the protesters quickly exacerbated tensions.
The minister was in Mayo to open the new €39 million, state-of-the-art centre, situated in the scenic village of Ballycroy.
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday, Independent Cllr Michael Holmes revealed that the Gormley cavalcade did not stop – as promised – because the thin-skinned Green reportedly ‘wasn’t happy with the placards’.
Afterwards the protest then moved onsite and grew to over 100 plus protesters. Negotiations were ultimately held, with a delegation of five locals, led by Cllr Holmes, meeting the minister to express their concerns.
“The farmers have three main concerns they want Minister Gormley to urgently address. These are the ongoing restriction on turf cutting, the limitations on the families of landowners building new houses and, finally, the de-stocking programme on the hills,” Cllr Holmes explained.
He said the group was incensed after the minister failed to honour his promise to accept the letter and made a decision ‘they wouldn’t leave until he accepted it’. Initially, Minister Gormley sent out an assistant to the group of farmers to receive the letter, but the farmers dubbed this unacceptable.
“After about 90 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing, he finally agreed to meet a delegation of five. It included a young lad who has recently been turned down for planning permission,” Michael Holmes continued.
“I told the minister that there were possibly 75 per cent of the community of Ballycroy outside the centre and they had all given their support to the new project. But, I told him, if you want this to be a success you need all the main stakeholders on side,” he also said.
He told The Mayo News that the minister was very receptive and attentive to the concerns expressed and promised to reflect on the issues raised and to meet a delegation soon.
Meanwhile, Deputy Michael Ring, Fine Gael spokesman on Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has welcomed the opening of the new facility.
“I was delighted to help deliver, along with Michael D Higgins, the national park when we were in government from 1995 to 1997. This fabulous facility will be great for the people of Ballycroy,” Deputy Ring said.
“Of course, I also expressed the concerns of farmers about restrictions in turf-cutting to Minister Gormley. He assured me that turf cutting in west Mayo was not affected,” he continued.
In a bizarre twist, Fine Gael Leader, Deputy Enda Kenny was not invited to the opening, which saw Mayo representatives, Junior Minister Dara Calleary, Deputy Beverley Flynn, as well as Deputy Ring, and a raft of local public representatives, in attendance.
Over the weekend he expressed his disappointment at ‘Minister John Gormley’s decision to selectively invite Oireachtas members to the opening of Ballycroy National Park today’.
“It’s not personal but this was a proposal that was delivered by the Fine Gael led Government during its last term of office. It was an issue in which Deputy Ring and I were centrally involved at the time and in which I have a deep and well known interest. The fact that Minister Gormley is selective in his invitations is a disappointment,” he said.
