Thursday, October 04, 2007
Lottery fund decision “absolute rubbish” - Paisley
Written on headed Commons paper, it denounced the grounds for turning down the grant bid as “absolute rubbish”. It also claimed, more than once, that Mr Sweeney’s visitor centre plans had the support of UNESCO, the UN body which oversees world heritage sites like the Causeway. It said: “ UNESCO saw and approved the plans, and were very impressed by the proposal.”
A claim which UNESCO have already denied. Another possible twist below the fold.
From the Belfast telegraph report
Mr Sweeney has spoken publicly about holding a highly-favourable meeting with senior UNESCO official Mechtild Rossler in 2001.
Ms Rossler has contested any suggestion of endorsement, and would not have had the authority to personally sign the organisation up to the project in any case.
She has made clear to the Belfast Telegraph that she would not support anything without going through the necessary UNESCO procedures.
She has also stated that UNESCO does not “decide on proposals” and that this would be a matter for Government bodies in the light of the UNESCO 2003 report.
Ms Rossler further said: “We were absolutely clear that any new visitor centre must be built in the footprint of the centre that was burnt down. That is my position and I am not moving one millimetre.”
A DUP source told the Belfast Telegraph that Mr Paisley Snr had met with a UNESCO official to discuss the Causeway situation.
Mr Sweeney’s proposals at the 2001 meeting differed in a key respect from those on the table by 2003. His 2001 blueprint was to have been located on Moyle Council’s land above the Causeway.
By 2003 - the time of Mr Paisley’s letter - his proposal was for an alternative location on his own land.
There is, potentially, a link with another recent controversy - which comes via Roger Stanyard in the Slugger comment zone here - and also brings DUP MLA Mervyn Storey back into the frame.
In a lengthy article on the links between DUP members and the young-Earthers the British Centre for Science Education points to the promotion of some of their non-evolutionary beliefs.
In a letter to the Belfast Newsletter [added link] published on 6th June 2006 George Dawson stated: “Over recent months myself and colleagues, David Simpson MP and Mervyn Storey MLA, have been pressing government on the need to ensure that interpretation at the new Causeway interpretative centre is inclusive of the views expressed by Rev Dr Greer and elaborated upon in the article by Dr Tas Walker. This is a matter of equality and tourism opportunity. In equality terms it is incumbent upon government not to discriminate against this equally scientific viewpoint and those who believe it.”
......In the original 3rd June 2006 article Greer claimed that the Causeway was formed 4,500 years ago during Noah’s flood. Greer pushed the pamphlet on the Causeway by Tas Walker of Answers in Genesis. Presumably Greer was angling to get Answers in Genesis material in the Causeway Centre. Greer’s arguments about the age of the Causeway, no doubt entirely lifted from the AiG material are risible. Science strongly suggests it was formed about 60-65 million years ago.
......The stakes for the creationists are very high. The Giant’s Causeway attracts some 500,000 visitors a year and is Northern Ireland’s largest tourist attraction. Both for school children studying geography or geology it is a major element in field studies. Getting creationism into the new Causeway visitor centre, believed to cost around £20 million, will be a huge coup for the creationists. No wonder they are putting so much effort into it. Again, it is exactly the same game being played by fundamentalists in the United States with the Grand Canyon.
A publicly funded Causeway Centre wouldn’t be as free to decide what materials were used in an intrepretive centre.
Pete Baker @ 11:11 AM
Nevin
Thanks.
This suggests Moyle Council should be in the best position to do some thing, but I suppose they do not have any money except for the small amount paid out in respect of Insurance claim.
Would it be heresy to suggest Moyle enter into a partnership arrangement with a business consortium always on the basis the Moyle retain the upper hand in any financial agreement or am I defeating my own argument.
We want a world class centre whereby profits find a way back to the community for further development.
Any private money invested should get a commercial return which is attractive enough but no more.Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 01:09 PMSpeaking of Irish Giants, I’d always assumed those basalt columns were huge. The photos I’d seen had no human presence to give me a sense of scale. And I have to say I was mighty disappointed on seeing those piddling little stones.
The fact that I’d just returned from seeing the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore may have had something to do with it :0)
Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 01:52 PMHow can the DUP be trusted with this issue when the geological explanation of the Causeway is an affront to their religous beliefs?
They must simply believe that the causeway is just how god created it 6000 years ago - like he created everything else - whats interesting about that? - It is only interesting if 1. Fionn Mac Cumhail made it or 2. it was created by lava ‘n’ shit.
Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 03:02 PMIts not that much of an affront to their religious beliefs if they are now complaining about the Lottery not giving them the money.
Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 03:15 PMSurely the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, who has for so long held the moral highground, could not possibly tell a lie.
Those who have loyally supported Big Ian and the DUP over the years must now, after watching all that has happened this year, must now be wondering where to place their trust in the coming? election.
Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 04:10 PMMoyle Council have many things to answer for. Not least is the leasing of a public car park and toilet block to The Bushmills and Causeway Railway a.k.a. S Sweeney. A charge has now been levied for parking and the toilets are for train travellers only.
The area round the carpark was a picnic and play area for families and this has also been lost.Posted by on Oct 05, 2007 @ 04:18 PMSean
“Hey I wonder how the wacko creationist explain Irish Giants lol”
Believe it or not many of them claim that at the time of Noah or whateverm people were giants. 9-13 feet tall or something. The reduction in average height since has been caused by degeneration of genes, they beleive. They claim to have found “empty” tombs that were built to bury the giant-sized people of the past.
It really wouldn’t surpise me that the creationist nutters start using the tale of Finn McCool as “evidence” for creationism. After all, Philip Bell, formerly of Answers in Genesis, belives that dinosuars roamed the English countryside in the 15th Century. All based on a crude child-like drawing on the tomb of a Bishop in Carlisle Cathedral.
All you have to do is drag up a few fairly tales about Irish dragons and they will use them to justify their, um, science. They really do believe such stuff “proves” creationism. They’ve claimed it time and time again.
I jest not.
Roger Stanyard
Posted by on Oct 06, 2007 @ 08:35 AM
