Press Releases

January 2005

11th Jan 2005 - Save Viking Waterford Launch On-Line Petition
2nd Jan 2005 - SVWAG Makes New Year Resolutions

11th January 2005

Save Viking Waterford Launch On-Line Petition

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has marked the New Year by launching an on-line petition to save the Woodstown Viking Site, which is located just outside Waterford City. The petition can be downloaded from the SVWAG website: www.vikingwaterford.com.

The launch of the on-line petition is the latest in a series of initiatives by the SVWAG to publicise the campaign to see a full excavation of the Woodstown site. The group has also printed thousands of copies of a fact-sheet on Woodstown and will, in the coming weeks, be publishing its first newsletter.

The petition lists the five aims of SVWAG:

1. To persuade the Minister for the Environment to order a full excavation of the Woodstown site, not a partial or rescue effort.
2. To ensure that the excavation is carried out by hand, without the use of heavy machinery.
3. To have the route of the N25 feeder road, which cuts the site, to be excavated before the surrounding areas allowing the road to be built without re-routing or significant delay.
4. To convince the state to bear the cost of the excavation.
5. To see an interpretative centre built in the region of the site once a full excavation has taken place.

“This is simply an electronic version of the petition which thousands of people have already signed locally
since the SVWAG came into existence four months ago” explained the SVWAG spokesperson, Dr Catherine Swift.
“The people of Waterford have already shown their enthusiastic support for the aims of our campaign, but we have been asked to make the petition more widely available and this is one way of doing it. Anybody with access to a computer can sign it 24/7 by logging onto our website www.vikingwaterford.com. Already we have signatures from across Ireland, Britain, Continental Europe, and as far afield as The United States and New Zealand”.

“Alternatively, if people want paper copies of the petition to circulate in their work place, in schools, at coffee mornings or in any organisation, they can ring 086-0679708 or e-mail us at save@vikingwaterford.com and we’ll post them out
copies.”

The fate of the Woodstown Viking Site lies in the hands of the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, who has sole power to make the decision. He can either decide to excavate it, thus allowing the road to proceed on its current route following the excavation, or he can decide to have the site “preserved in situ” which would mean the road would have to be moved.

“It is difficult to see where they would move the road to in that case.” remarked Dr Swift. “If you move it east, it will run adjacent to the Gracedieu to Butlerstown road which is planned to connect up with the second river crossing. The road which goes through Woodstown is nowhere near the main bypass from the bridge to the Cork Road, rather it a bypass of the bypass. There seems very little point in having two bypasses running side by side.”

“On the other hand, if the site is excavated and the road put through, we’ve gained priceless knowledge about our past, we’ve got the potential for a tourist asset and we’ve got the second bypass. If you agree that they’re desirable options, please sign our petition and help us convince Dick Roche.”

For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the information web site www.vikingwaterford.com

SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP MAKES NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

2nd January 2005

Despite being in existence for less than four months, the Save Viking Waterford Action Group has already: launched a website, taken thousands of signatures on our petition, held public lectures with leading academics, produced a fact-sheet outlining our knowledge of the Woodstown Viking Site, organised a field-trip to Woodstown, addressed several local schools, sent information on Woodstown to local businesses, trade unions and international scholars,
published a quarterly newsletter and done our best to keep the pressure on the government by repeatedly calling for the full excavation of Woodstown. We have received messages of support from across Ireland and beyond, from those who do not want to see the destruction of one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe.

Since its inception at a meeting attended by over 130 people in the Granville Hotel last September, the SVWAG has committed itself to ensuring that the Woodstown Viking site is properly excavated to international standards and the site utilised fully for its educational and tourist potential. SVWAG's philosophy is that these discoveries belong to the people of Waterford and Ireland and that discussion of their fate should be a matter for transparent debate by all interested parties. It is in this spirit that we publish our New Year's resolutions in the hope that this may help to spark ideas and discussion on the best way that the local community can benefit from the new discoveries.

We resolve to continue to bring leading national and international scholars to Waterford for public lectures and asking them to donate their time and their knowledge to the task of researching and publishing on Woodstown. We have applied to the Heritage Council for a grant to aid us in this task.

We resolve to continue and extend our outreach programme to schools and organisations to increase public knowledge and appreciation of Woodstown. A number of local schools and societies have been in touch with us asking for presentations on Woodstown and Viking Waterford. These requests have now spread well beyond Waterford City itself to Dungarvan, Mullinavat and Clonmel amongst others. It has been pointed out to us that there is now the opportunity to research matters of local interest as part of Leaving Certificate studies and that Woodstown would make a very suitable subject for such investigations.

Councillor Tom Cunningham has asked us to produce detailed briefing papers outlining the prospects for a heritage centre or interpretative centre in Waterford. We do not, of course, have the resources to hire experts to write such papers for us but we have the goodwill of the many, many hundreds of people in Waterford and beyond who have signed our petition and who support our campaign. Building on the collective knowledge and expertise of these people, we resolve to answer his call to the best of our ability. In the interests of healthy and transparent debate, perhaps, he too might publish what he considers the best way forward so that all can consider the various options
available.

We resolve to continue to counter the misconceptions and misinformation surrounding Woodstown. It has been claimed repeatedly that Woodstown will delay the Waterford bypass and the second river crossing. This misapprehension has arisen through a concerted campaign by Martin Cullen, several Waterford City Councillors and the Chamber of Commerce to present Woodstown as a problem and an obstacle. In reality, the site is over four kilometres from the proposed bridge and is not even on the main N25 bypass, which will intersect with the outer ring road at the Butlerstown roundabout, almost two kilometres from Woodstown. The section of road which cuts Woodstown is thus not of primary importance for bypassing Waterford but instead serves merely as a feeder road intended to provide additional access for long term development. As that is some way in the future, there is ample time to excavate Woodstown without disturbing any of the proposed roads which are designed to bypass the city.

We resolve to continue our efforts to involve the public in the debate on the future of this magnificent
site and not let up in our quest to see our heritage and culture preserved.

Dr Catherine Swift