The Tara Foundation

Editorial, St. Brigid's Day (1st February) 2006

1: The M3 Motorway: The State Arraigns Itself in Court
2: BASF's Plans to Contaminate Tara with GMO

1
The High Court case taken against the State by opponents of the M3 Motorway has now concluded, pending judgement. In our opinion, the challenge will be rejected, on the basis that the lower courts in practice pay no heed to the Constitution, and the right of State and courts alike to adhere to a legal positivist mindset is taken for granted on the basis that Ireland is a "common law country". Ireland is no such thing, as stated in Article 15.2 of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court, since the Constitution is its reason for existence, must keep this fact before it at all times.

The State has revealed itself in the most blatant manner, arguing (in the person of James Connolly SC) that, for one thing, it has no duty to protect heritage, and for another, that the national monuments legislation was not intended to allow for landscapes to be designated as national monuments. The Tara Foundation has argued (see 2004 editorials) that it was precisely the purpose of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 to allow the Minister for the Environment to designate, unilaterally and on the basis of no set criteria, what constitutes heritage and what does not, for the express purpose of permitting heritage sites and national monuments to be demolished by private developers. The State is now indicted out of its own mouth, and has confirmed our prediction that the State sees its role not as the guardian of the Constitution but a guardian of special interests in the name of which emergency legislation is passed suspending basic Constitutional principles: Minister Harney's legalisation of State larceny of old age benefits is another recent example.

The unfortunate obstacle to this political culture is the Constitution, and more specifically the 1972 Supreme Court ruling by Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh that "the Hill of Tara is properly to be regarded as a single unified site and not a series of separate archaeological monuments", and that "The expression 'national monument' means a monument or the remains of a monument the preservation of which is a matter of national importance by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic, or archaeological interest... A monument, among other things, is anything that by its survival commemorates a person, action or event". The Supreme Court, in granting the interlocutory injunction against's the State's plans to build a motorway over Carrickmines Castle, stated that according to the National Monuments legislation, the State does indeed have a duty to protect heritage. The latter decision reflects a confirmation that the National Monuments legislation up to that time was in accord with the terms of the Constitution. Any attempt to lessen those protections, such as Minister Cullen's overhaul, or rather evisceration, of that legislation in 2004, is therefore in contempt of the Constitution.

***

2
On 13 January 2006, BASF Plant Science GmbH (an affiliate of the multinational chemical and pharmaceutical corporation BASF) formally notified the Irish Environmental Protection agency of its intention to grow genetically modified (GMO) potatoes near the Hill of Tara, on a plot located next to the Teagasc Grange Research Centre at Arodstown, Summerhill, Co. Meath. The townland of Arodstown is situated 2 km north of the R156 road between Dunboyne and Summerhill.

The proposed "field trial" will take place from April 2006 to October 2010. BASF stated that the aim is to gererate seed GMO potatoes with improved resistance to the late potato blight fungus Phytopthora infestans. However, two varieties of blight-resistant potatoes, produced by safe non-GMO traditional breeding methods, are already available to Irish farmers.

Irish farmers contaminated by GMO crops will lose ownership of their own produce, face patent infringement lawsuits, and be forced to pay annual patent royalties.
Modified genes can escape and contaminate other crops, wildlife, and produce "superweeds". [1]

There is growing scientific evidence that GM foods and crops pose unacceptable health and envoronmental risks, including overwhelming evidence of deaths attributable to GM products among laboratory and farm animals and in the human population. [2].

One of the less-well known facts about BASF is that it was once part of the IG FARBEN concern, the most powerful German corporation in the first half of the twentieth century. After WW1, all the major German chemical concerns, BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, and other German chemical and pharmaceutical companies were merged in 1926 into a single gigantic trust - I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. The concern produced dyestuffs, pharmaceuticals, photographic supplies and explosives, and a host of other products emerged as a result of the interconnection of finance and expertise.

I.G. Farben was the single largest donor to the election camparign of Adolf Hitler. One year before the Nazi seizure of power, IG Farben donated 400,000 marks to the Nazi party. As a result, after Hitler's seizure of power, IG Farben was the single largest profiteer of the attempted German conquest of Europe, the Second World War. 100% of all German explosives and synthetic gasoline came from the IG Farben factories. After the Nazi conquest of a European country, IG Farben followed in their wake, systematically taking over the industries of these countries. This occured in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France and all other conquered states.

The camp at Auschwitz was the largest extermination factory in history, but the concentration camp was only the appendix. The central project was IG Auschwitz, a 100% subsidiary of IG Farben, the largest industrial complex in the world for manufacturing synthetic gasoline and rubber for the projected conquest of Europe.

The pharmaceutical departments of the IG Farben used the victims of the concentration camps for experimentation for new and unknown vaccines. The prisoners too weak or sick to work upon arrival at Auschwitz were selected for extermination and sent to the gas chambers. The chemical gas Zyklon-B used in the gas chambers was produced by IG Farben.

The Nuremberg War Criminal Tribunal convicted 24 IG Farben members and executives on the basis of mass murder, slavery and other crimes against humanity. By 1951 all had been released, continuing to consult with German corporations. The Nuremberg Tribunal dissolved the IG Farben group back into Bayer, Hoechst, and BASF.

Now each of the three sections of IG Farben is 20 times as large as IG Farben was at its height in 1944. For almost 3 decades after WW1, BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst (now Aventis) each filled its highest position, chairman of the board, with former members of the Nazi NSDAP. The majority of the political officials, scientists and businessmen affiliated or connected to these corporations continue to occupy the highest levels of power in Germany. Now this scion of IG Farben wants to use Irish citizens as lab rats in its business endeavours. [3]

Sources

[1]http://www.gmfreeireland.org/potato/index.php
[2]http://www.indsp.org/ISPreportSummary.php
[3]http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/PHARMACEUTICAL_BUSINESS/history_of_the_pharmaceutical_industry.htm

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