Clifden Airstrip - a reply to Mike Gibbons
As the author of the letter from Save Roundstone Bog,
I will answer Mike's arguments
one by one.
His first paragraph isn't an argument, just an assertion. However I would
like to say that I have been exploring, loving, writing and thinking about
Connemara for over fifteen years, that I know the area intimately and
have some knowledge and experience in most aspects of landscape studies,
that I have no axe to grind, and get involved in environmental disputes
only rarely and reluctantly, but with a deep sense of responsibility to
the community and the natural world. So please listen to me and address
my arguments.
Damage to the Derrygimlagh site
in itself, as opposed to Roundstone
Bog as a whole, is not my point. However, having revisited the site,
I am sure that there would in fact be damage to it. It is a pleasant,
peaceful, open area with its own atmosphere; it is easy to walk into it
but it already feels remote from roads and traffic, and it is an ideal
buffer to the relatively undamaged bogland around it. Airstrips entail
filling and quarrying, fencing, traffic... disruptive however 'sensitively'
done!
The acquisition by the State of the 80 acres in Ardagh: well, that area
is already due to be protected as a Special Area of Conservation, so it
can't be developed anyway. And it is an isolated patch, not adjacent to
any other land owned by the OPW
or the National Park;
so I don't think it is advantageous for the State to swap it for a bit
of Derrygimlagh which is right on the edge of the best of their lowland
blanket bog holdings.
"Thin end of the wedge". I'm not scaremongering, just scared! A small
strip can become a big one if it prospers, and if it doesn't it might
get replaced by something worse. The effect of even a limited operation
here would be to free up the land for development.
"Aran strips; no negative environmental impact." In fact the Aran strips
have had quite an impact; how could they not? Each is built on a previously
open and pristine tract of the sort of calcarious coastal grassland the
ecologists call 'machair', which has a fascinating and unique ecology
adapted to salty winds, grazing etc. With Fanore, the Aran machairs are
the most southerly examples of this increasingly rare landform, everywhere
under pressure from golfcourses, caravan sites etc. The Aran strips have
substantially reduced the areas open to several bird species for nesting,
and impacted on a wonderfully beautiful and fascinating flora. Also, old
records suggest that a potentially interesting archaeological site of
the sort Mike has celebrated was obliterated by the Inis Oirr strip (details
on request!). Nevertheless on balance I would vote for the Aran strips
because of their importance to the community and its economics. No comparable
compensations are likely to arise in the case of Clifden.
"Flying clubs" - well, we'd have to hear from the people who live near
the Galway club on whether it brings them sheer pleasure or not; I suspect
it's great fun for the few up in the air and not such fun for the many
on the ground. Certainly planes droning overhead are not going to enhance
my awareness of the beauty of Galway's landscapes.
"The land in question ... not part of Roundstone Bog". But since the Airport
Group are surely not going to be allowed to plough through the remains
of the Marconi Station, which is a site of world importance in the history
of technology, they must build on the cut-away bog north of the little
lake (Loch Imleach na Coirlí on my map). And this is an area of heathery
hummocky pondy ground which will be covered in bog cotton later this year,
with the usual lichens and bog mosses one finds on such slowly regenerating
terrain. So, it is indeed a part of Roundstone Bog, although it's gone
through a hard time.
As to the remains of the complex itself, nearly all the buildings are
reduced to foundations hard to see from a little distance. The few standing
walls are low, widely scattered, grey, unobtrusive, and silent. Let them
rest in peace! Or would that be too 'philosophical' a ground for objecting
to this intrusive project?
Tim Robinson
Tim Robinson has written books about
the Aran Islands,
the Burren and Connemara, and has produced maps on each of the areas.
He lives in Roundstone, Connemara, where he and his wife run the Folding
Landscapes studio.
Also by Tim Robinson:
Another Threat to Roundstone Bog
"A Connemara
In the Skull"
Other articles:
Clifden Airstrip:
An Alternative Environmental View, by Michael
Gibbons
Clifden Airstrip - Clear
for Take Off? (News, Jan.'98)
Save Roundstone Bog
