In the year 2000 when Wicklow County Council wanted to build part of the N11 motorway through Glen of the Downs, activist Úna Ní Bhroin knew it was time to act. She, along with 12 other protesters were arrested and sent to prison for trespassing. Now Úna revisits the saga in the latest episode of TG4's award winning documentary series Finné - watch it here, and read her story below.
In September 1997, I attended a protest at the steps of the Central Bank of Ireland, on Dame Street in Dublin. I met a group of activists highlighting the plight of the Glen of the Downs ancient woodland and nature reserve. My 12-year-old brother was with me. We met a guy called Dave who explained about what was going on in Co. Wicklow, the road expansion plan and devastation to the ancient mature native sessile oak woodland which was Ireland's first nature reserve in 1976. I was 23.
After visiting the Glen, I was smitten by its beauty and the movement that was taking place there. I moved down in January 1998, staying in a large bender first (bent hazel rods with tarpaulin on top, a large tent). One friend told me I was a "drop out" but she understood my motivation.
In March, the fate of the trees was back in the hands of the courts so I moved out of the Glen, began working again and started a new college course, organic horticulture. For a year and half I visited the vigil most weekends, enjoyed living outdoors, being part of an important environmental movement and meeting gentle people mostly my age who wanted to have less of an impact on the planet, people who were NOT obsessed with material wealth, status, cars, houses, night clubbing and substance abuse.
All the money in the world wouldn't bring back the flora, fauna and biodiversity lost when an ancient woodland is cut down.
We had escaped Babylon and the rat race and played music at the campfire every night to the light of the moon. We were also supported by hundreds of local people who brought food and other supplies and did a lot more. Slowly the road plans changed and Wicklow County Council and Dúchas told the courts they would cut less trees than they had originally planned. We had won one battle.
When our final appeal to stop the chainsaws completely was lost in January 2000, I moved back down there full time, this time in my own tree house. It swayed in the breeze every night and rocked me gently to sleep. The idyll wasn't to last though, and Wicklow County Council arrived within a week or two for the final felling. It was traumatic and scary but I was good at this kind of thing I found. I stood in front of their machines and workers, halting their progress.
At the end, I happened to be one of the ones who spent a week in prison. Hundreds if not thousands of people had helped over the 4 years and further back to the first campaign led by Jim Fitzpatrick, a tree surgeon who initially called out the authorities on the madness of the plan. But it was all over now.
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Watch, via RTÉ Archives: RTÉ News - Eco Warriors in Glen of the Downs
The eco warriors were gradually taken from the Glen, the tents, tree houses and lock-ons were taken away and the road went ahead. They promised to plant 500 baby oaks from acorns picked in the Glen which the council did… but they all died bar one within a few years.
All the money in the world wouldn't bring back the flora, fauna and biodiversity lost when an ancient woodland is cut down. Millions of years of evolution created those lifeforms that we humans co-existed and evolved with and then we cut them down in the blink of an eye. Our legislature, our political system and our culture doesn’t value them… The devastation to the environment is unfortunately worse now than it was 25 years ago. Yet, we seem to understand it better with mass extinction of species, climate chaos all accepted as real.
So why do I pass by mature trees cut down every week wherever I travel in Ireland? Because they are not protected by law, and most people don’t even see them. The Glen to this day is not being managed properly. Invasive species encroach on the native saplings making it difficult for them to grow and slowly killing the ancient parts.
Irish laws, values and cultures have to be addressed. If a house is in the way of a development the planners work around it, if a tree is in the way, it’s cut down. Perhaps it is time to look at the Celtic Brehon laws again from around the year 700. If you cut a limb off an oak tree, you paid a fine of a cow and a calf. And it was illegal to cut a mature oak tree, full stop.
Re-joining civilisation and conforming to society’s norms after living in the Glen and wanting to have less of an impact on the earth was always going to be a challenge for me. I found that with kids we just become consumers by default. So I conformed to re-join a society that doesn’t value trees. I am always conflicted about this choice, but ultimately I don’t think I really had a choice. I try to count my blessings and say the serenity prayer. And sometimes that’s all I can do.
Finné, TG4 Wednesdays @ 9.30pm - catch up here.
