Another Threat to Roundstone Bog

The tranquility of Roundstone Bog, probably the finest stretch lowland blanket bog still left relatively undamaged, is threatened once again by a proposed Clifden Airport. Eight years ago the plan was to put an airport in the north-west corner of the bog, in the townland of Ardagh near Clifden. This proposal was refused planning permission on environmental and amenity grounds. Now the Clifden Airport Group wants to put a strip on the bog in Derrygimlagh, by the remains of the Marconi Telegraph Station (disused since 1922). The Marconi site belongs to the State, and the idea is that the Office of Public Works would receive the land at Ardagh in exchange for part the Marconi site. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltach Ms. Sile de Valera, put a notice in the Connacht Tribune recently asking the public for their views on the idea. Save Roundstone Bog, an ad-hoc group of local residents and others concerned to protect the environment, will be making a submission opposing the land-swap.

The bog in Derrygimlagh itself has been much damaged by turf cutting over the years, and is not included in the proposed Special Area of Conservation which will give most of Roundstone Bog some protection. Nevertheless we feel that the new site should be opposed as vigorously as was the former one, for the following reasons:
The Derrygimlagh site is an integral part of the whole bog complex, only separated from the rest of it by a narrow lake, Loch Fada, and should be preserved as a buffer zone. Because it is on a level with, and close to the heart of, Roundstone Bog, any development there would intrude on the silent beauty of this unique tract of wilderness, and compromise its status as a wildlife habitat.
Even a small strip could be the thin end of the wedge. A terminal building and carpark would no doubt soon prove necessary, and once the ban on building had been breached, there is no knowing what might be allowed in the future: a flying club? a holiday village?
If a small strip is thought necessary and viable, it should be sited in a less sensitive area. Job creation is important, but developments that damage Connemara's most attractive features to the visitor, its spaciousness and tranquility, are not the way to go about it.

If you wish to express your views on this threat to a world-famous landscape, please write to the Minister BEFORE 2 MARCH at:

Duchas, The Heritage Service,
National Parks and Wildlife,
51 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2

Save Roundstone Bog, c/o Folding Landscapes Roundstone, Co. Galway
tel.095 35886, fax 095 35974, e-mail:tandmfl@iol.ie

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.

Other articles:
Clifden Airstrip: An Alternative Environmental View
Clifden Airstrip - Clear for Take Off? (News, Jan.'98)
Save Roundstone Bog

Also by Tim Robinson:
"A Connemara In the Skull"