March 28, 2022
Northern Ireland

Protest calls for removal of turbine from 5,000-year-old burial site

By Conor Macauley, Northern Correspondent | RTÉ | Raidió Teilifís Éireann | Monday, 28 Mar 2022 | www.rte.ie

A group demanding the removal of a controversial wind turbine from the site of a 5000-year-old protected burial site, has staged a protest this afternoon, utilising an ancient Irish trumpet.

The hill, at Knockiveagh near Rathfriland in Co Down, was also used as an inauguration site for local kings thousands of years ago.

It has commanding views of the surrounding area, including the Mourne Mountains.

Planning permission was granted for the turbine even though the Stone Age burial cairn on the hill’s summit is a protected monument.

Planners failed to consult heritage experts who later said they would have opposed the development.

Members of Ancient Music Ireland – a group dedicated to the preservation of Stone and Bronze Age instruments – travelled from Galway with a replica of what’s known as the Ard Brin trumpet, dating from the Bronze Age, which was found in a bog near Knockiveagh in the 19th century.

They played the huge trumpet, which has to be supported, as part of a protest on the hill demanding the removal of the adjacent turbine.

“Well we’re pretty much 100% certain that a pair of these were played here 2,000 years ago on this site, so we’re probably reawakening a few old spirits here today,” said Simon O’Dwyer of Ancient Music Ireland.

The planning authorities now accept that the turbine ought not to have been given permission and ought to be taken down.

But the bungle happened as planning powers were being transferred from central to local government, and they are now locked in a legal dispute over which is responsible for removing it and compensating the turbine owner.

The controversy was featured in a highly critical report of Stormont’s Public Accounts Committee.

It said it was “incredulous” to discover that the amount spent on legal fees by two public bodies over the issue of liability would have been more than enough to pay the compensation bill and end the matter.

Anne Harper of the Save Knockiveagh group has helped spearhead the campaign for the removal of the turbine.

“It will come down, I’ve no doubt about that because it was put there erroneously, the Public Accounts Committee have come out and agreed it was an outrage and somebody has got to take responsibility.