Press Release. Campaign to Save Tara,
9th. December, 20:00hrs.

Campaign to Save Tara disbands

The Campaign to Save Tara, an umbrella group of individuals and some pre-existing groups campaigning on the Tara/M3 issue officially disbanded at an EGM held at the Country Club in Dunshaughlin on Wednesday 5th December. The group was formed in January 2007. Those present, which included most of the original founding members, voted by a margin of 4 to 1 to disband the group.

After a successful nine months in existence in which a great amount of positive work was done it was felt by the majority that it was no longer a progressive and work-orientated organisational structure, and that the changing challenges of the situation needed a different approach.

The meeting ended without acrimony and in a spirit of positivity. Individual members of the CST continue to work in different capacities with the Vigil/Direct Action camps, Save Tara.com, Heritage Alliance and as individuals, with no allegiance except to the ongoing fight against environmental vandalism in this country.

CST brought together a diverse and resourceful group of people who managed to push the "dead" issue of Tara and the M3 to the top of the political agenda during the run up to the General Election, and its aftermath. The failure of the Greens to secure any compromises on the issue during the negotiations to go into Government led the CST to actively encourage a "no" vote at the Green convention. We, as a group, are very proud also that our primary concern was with persuading the public of our position, and claim credit for winning the financial, political, environmental and moral argument in the public sphere.

The CST supported the lodging of plenary summons proceedings by its former spokesperson Michael Canney in September of this year, these proceedings are still in train. Last week's Supreme Court judgement relating to the awarding of costs in a Carrickmines case is an important consideration in any decision relating to the furtherance of this action. Mr. Dunne is to be applauded for his courage and for not doing any secret deals on costs.

Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin continues to run the Save Tara website as she has done for the last four years. This site is not, and does not claim to be, democratically representative - it is a portal for all Tara-related activity and hosts material from a diverse range of sources and organisations. The site had been used by the CST for the dissemination of material over the course of its existence.

Former members of CST continue to form the backbone of the Direct Action campaign and while the EGM decided that active fundraising will cease, any funds generated subsequent to the dissolution of the organisation will be directed to sustaining the direct action camps. Three trustees were elected by the meeting to manage and ultimately wind down all financial activities of the organisation.

Other members have recently been the principal activists behind the publicizing of the recent carvings found at the Lismullin souterrain, the Gore demonstration and a number of other events. Others are involved in a legal action which may have important implications for civil liberties cases in the future. This will continue and it is to facilitate this diverse activity that the group disbanded.

The CST will be making a return to the Standards in Public Office Commission as it is legally obliged to do because of its active involvement in the election campaign this Summer. Its total expenditure on election related materials was c.€8k. It's total income generated over the last nine months comes to in the region of €13k and all accounts have been updated and are in credit. At the end of the campaign we hope that all groups will be in a position to account for all of their income and expenditure in the same way.

In conclusion, we are proud of what we achieved over the last nine months and in no way embarrassed or downbeat about having wound up the CST organisation. The good energy and commitment of its former members remains steadfast. This is not the time or place for a post-mortem on the general campaign and we prefer, as we always have, not to become embroiled in internecine squabbles with peripheral groups and individuals. There will be no further official statements from the organisation.

We would like to thank all of our supporters and Indymedia for their continued support and can assure you all that the fight to save Tara is far from over.

ENDS

Media queries:
Michael Canney
E-Mail: info@savetara.com
Web site: http://www.savetara.com