Suggestions for moving forward with SuirCan The comments I make below are in the context of my experience working as an environmental professional, where I deal with local authorities, landowners, agencies such as the fisheries boards and National Parks & Wildlife Service, and communities. In carrying out my work, I have to take account of legislation, factually-based evidence, government and agency policies, and best environmental practice. I appreciate that the group that has gathered in relation to SuirCan has a passion about trying to achieve something, and I feel that this is more likely to be successful if care is taken to get the right groundwork laid. Similarly, I am used to having to put my personal feelings to one side and so my comments below are not to be taken personally, but as what I feel might be useful in achieving something for Suir Island and the Suir in general. If I can take the first point: achieve a cohesion of vision and purpose that would enable us to empower ourselves with a strong and convincing voice - that is a great aim and will take a bit of time to work out. I suggest that ‘pestering’ the Borough Engineer is not going to result in anyone being seen as a strong and convincing voice, unless there is a valid point to be made. In relation to the part of the island that the council is developing as a temporary car-park (reported in the Nationalist on 4th October), I had a look at (i) Draft Clonmel & Environs Development Plan 2008 (Jan 2007) and proposed amendments to same (Sept. 2007), both available on council website; (ii) archaeology.ie website for records of sites and monuments; (iii) npws.ie website for site boundary of the River Suir Special Area of Conservation. I couldn’t find a copy of the flood relief EIS anywhere online so I’m going on memory on what they propose on the island. As far as I can see from my quick look at the above:-there are no protected structures or monuments affected by the works; -the River Suir SAC is not directly affected;-trees with tree preservation order on them seem to be unaffected;-the lands are subject to a special zoning in a list of disused areas with potential for commercial development;and from memory – the OPW will be building an earth embankment further down the island, which along with proposed walls etc. is intended to protect the entire area around Hughes’ Mills over to the Kingdom Hall from flooding. Whatever about how this is actually carried out, as far as I know the works are approved as of last year or the year before, following the public consultation. There may be a requirement for monitoring by National Parks & Wildlife Service where the works are in or along the SAC, which would include the trees along the riverbank. I’m not a planner so I don’t know whether they need or have planning permission for the car-park; I can find nothing about it on the e-plan system on the council website. To be devil’s advocate on this one, they can quite legitimately say ‘what’s the problem?’. At the moment it doesn’t look very pretty, but that isn’t a good reason for reacting to it. To draw it together a little, I compiled the following SWOT analysis. There are probably quite a few things missing.
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
| Part of island as well as the entire river channel is protected for nature conservation; protected structures and trees present on the island also. | Government and other agencies can seem opaque if you don’t know where to go for information on conservation, policies etc. |
| Policy in Draft Clonmel plan re. River Suir Amenity area | Need to mobilise communites along the river to ensure best outcome for Suir Amenity area. |
| Presence of new Arts Officer, officer with responsibility for Heritage, and Environmental Awareness officer in County Council. | |
| Opportunities for Suir Island | Threats to Suir Island |
|
People parking on the island and walking to town – less cars in town centre |
Damage to old structures, trees, habitats |
|
People who might never have been in this part of town may ‘notice’ the island for the first time |
Piecemeal incursion of development into the island |
|
Provision of flood relief berm could be incorporated into the story of the island |
Provision of flood relief berm will visually divide the island |
| Opportunities for SuirCan | Threats to SuirCan |
|
Potential to work with the Council in this public space to improve awareness of the heritage of the island |
Wrong approach could lead to being seen as a reactionary and difficult group, thereby reducing dialogue and funding opportunities |
|
Improved access to the island |
|
|
Create positive image of the group and lay groundwork for the future, if more serious issues arise. |
Weighing up the SWOT above, I would like to contribute the following as a possible way forward.
· Talk to the Arts Officer and officer with responsibility for Heritage, and see if the ideas for projects can be incorporated into the car-park, in association with the council. As I understand it from the media, the car park is being done quickly as part of the plan to market Clonmel as a Christmas shopping town (there is also a plan in the pipeline by Clonmel Chamber to get a portable ice-rink into the town for Christmas). This could be a great opportunity for the group to piggy-back on the opening-up of this area and help achieve critical mass in bringing life to Clonmel town centre.
· What about a ‘park’n’ride’ day, where people would bring their bikes (in the car if they have to) and cycle into town. Maybe the bike shops would get in on the act?
· Are there any other opportunities for the other units in Hughes Mills to get involved (Suds n Surf?). Clonmel Chamber?
· The old walls around the car park could provide a backdrop or easel for display of projects.
· Maybe Mr. Binman would sponsor or help out with something, the Environmental Awareness Officer could help here – something on the theme of sustainability, re-use/recycle etc. could be incorporated, a bit like what was done with the hubcaps on the banners during the Junction.
· Do a schools project on the wildlife and heritage of the island and display it around the walls of the car park.
To summarise, for what it’s worth, I think a positive approach has a great chance of achieving a good outcome for the island and all its heritage, instead of seeing the ‘powers that be’ as a barrier. I won’t pretend it will be easy or quick, but it might be the better long-term approach. I also think that achieving something positive would help the group to come together and counteract the ‘weariness and frustration’ that you mention. It is very difficult and energy-sapping to keep people on board with a ‘negative’ campaign. It is possible to challenge the status-quo while working within it.
I spent a good year of my life and a lot of my companies resources fighting the protest of saving Our Regal Theatre only to end up sidelined as an interfering outsider. With the Farmers Market project, I learned that despite the endless frustrations and slow ways of the bureaucratic mind that collaboration with these people works best . And they do have support within the community and are members of it and from their perspective have jobs to do. So alienating them is not best in the long term. Bear in mind that the creation of a temporary car park is something the traders in town are crying out for and so you run the risk of loosing their support and backing.
The situation at Suir Island is a reflection of a serious illness within our community ,the lack of connection, and the absence of a shared long term vision for the town etc etc .To build a sustainable response we need to engage folks in the possibility of something that will unite us all -the common good. Going down the road of protest will maybe satisfy a sense of wanting to be ‘doing’ something now, but without proper foundations you are asking a lot from a group of interested residents who have only had one encounter with each other.
Pat
We are having the second meeting of the SuirCAN dialogue on Monday. Theresia is quite absorbed in doing a funding application and would probably appreciate if we can put our minds to this if you are around and willing enough to get dragged into this some more??? We need to talk about facilitation of that meeting a little. We have had our art Halloween intervention on the island on Wednesday and are going to clean it up this eve at 5.30. Our ‘artwork’ ended up in the river quite interestingly and we have to try and haul out the traffic cones we ‘ borrowed, etc. Theresia thought we might talk about this and look at the parking lot issue in our Monday meeting. I feel that that’s fine if it comes up, but not to set it down as something we have to talk about. It would be a bit narrow and want to leave it at the broad level and as a suggestion would like to try and get everybody to make some representation of how they identify with the island (a drawing, symbol, few words that come to mind put on paper or such). I would find that quite interesting to look at, share and talk about. Or do we just leave people to talk on – the same as last time??? For myself, I feel like I want to record something slightly more tangible with the making of rough representations to get a more focussed feel for the diversity of what we are looking at. What do you think? I will probably come to market tomorrow around 12 – as will Theresia I suspect, but I for one will have my family on tow, which is not to conducive to discussion – but maybe we might manage. Monday morning might be a good time again to meet and just go over what we want out of this exercise for everybody at about 12??. And email for now.
So over to you…
Lyn
Hi Pat, I agree with much you say here. Our first intention as SuirCAN is something to which we have all agreed – that is to sing off the same hymn sheet, to first of all build group report, to vibrate together (create a swarm?). Let the young and the old vibrate together, the quick and the slow, those with long history in the context and those that are new, professionals and laymen, the passionately feverish and frustrated, the cool, calm and collected, etc. I am also aware that quite a few people do not look at emails often or ever, so they will not be on board with these kind of new dynamics and communications, calls for action or suggestions. So maybe we can try for now to let things grow in the actual face to face group contact.
We have to sacrifice ourselves to the group first if we want to be part of it. First ‘feel’ the group/ hear the group. This is SLOW group dynamics (along the principles of the SLOW movement , slow food, etc. where quick fixes, paste-overs, quick answers, reactive responses along the lines of our own education and past experience are to be questioned). I for one would want to keep things on the level of the water pool that symbolically lay in our midst. Mieke, in our first meeting we had a murky blue fabric laid out in the centre on the floor amidst our circle of chairs – this was there in part to represent the murky waters around the suir island which we want to clear; in part to represent the us as bathing in a pool of shared intent (even though with different skills and views as individuals) and in part to represent something from which we hope a clear vision and way forward can slowly emerge. So looking into this pool is where we are at. As with all group dynamics we have to check how we dialogue, the form of our dialogue and the inclusiveness of what we consult on. When we step into the circle when it is our turn to talk, we have to ask ourselves whether we are creating a dialogue or a monologue, will the group intent be served or not, there is an art to group dialogue and it is very important to keep an eye on the common denominator: ‘the golden thread’ – to make sure that every member of the group is attached to this thread as the only means to keep us from getting lost in the maze or from splintering off into dead-end passages / splinter groups. At the moment we may view this golden thread simply as our passion for community spirit or to work within the public realm with a stronger voice for the common good. Anyway, we are at the start, and our aim is to unite ourselves around a common thing. To see and hear this THING clearly before we move on to re-action, pro-action. We also want to discover and go towards healing the heart of our perceived community. Part of the ailment might well be the way that we rush in with positive action or campaigning or whatever positivism too quick without bringing to light the shadow aspects or understanding the mechanisms that have created this stuff we do not want. This is not about positive or negative, more a search for
truth (transparency being key). That does not mean that we cannot continue
to act as individuals and groups of friends in our own capacities. This group is one of normal citizens practicing democracy (rediscovering their own democracy and what that means) – so we are not inviting officials unless they are comfortable to not be officials and only with total group consent.
Mieke, thanks for the swot. It is a good start – though for now I don’t know if that is what we as a group would want to do. We can discuss it in the group?. Me and Theresa did also retort that we would do a swot or similar at an early stage of our project (with this we mean the Creative Amenities Now art intervention side of the Suir Island project: A-wake-ing the Island – which is a separate aspect – a collaboration between me Shay and Theresia).
We have not got round to this yet. There are other methodologies to explore – swot is just the most well-known route. Also, your suggestions are good, most of them have come up already – and it is good to know that we are thinking along the same lines. We have to think of ways to introduce our suggestions for ‘a way forward’ to the group when we get to that stage, but we are not there yet, are we….??? Anyway, it would be good to meet you face to face quite soon.
Lyn
Lyn Mather
Hi Guys,Just to add a little to the ongoing discussion on the group process. The situation that is being witnessed at Suir Island is a result of years of neglect by the community of the community and will take a little time and commitment to reverse. The difficulty with protest is that it assumes the high moral ground and evokes a similar response from those it is directed at.
The process of developing a group focus is at a very early stage and needs to be given a little time to establish roots. Dialogue is an essential component in establishing connections and developing a common ground.
To be really effective we need to focus on the higher intention of what is best for the creation of a sustainable community for Clonmel, and in that respect we focus on the goal of joining up all the dots of the many mini community group interests within the town, in creating a forum for dialogue about the regeneration of a global community spirit using the island as the medium or golden thread.
The difficulty up to now is that everyone has been pursuing their own particular interest or specific group’s interest, and have been viewing the town mostly from the lens of their individual perspective. So from where others come from they are right too about what is wrong in the town and that is the real problem, an inability to be able to entertain opposing viewpoints.
That’s why we need at some stage to be able to engage in dialogue about a broader visioning process for the town with the rebuilding of community spirit as a critical and principal central goal.
The aim is to align all the many interests beyond agreement [which is reliant on a congruence of opinion] on the higher intention of creating a healthy and vibrant community of people sharing the same space. If people focus on what they think is right for the town from their perspective, we will probably get as many opinions as there are participants in the process.
If the passion can be stirred with people visioning what they would like to see evolve as a community and the higher intention is allowed to unfold, then the alignment of the diverse interests is possible.
This is a tall order and one that requires a level of evolution in the consciousness[ based on value agreements] that has created the situation we find our selves in.
But if we want to solve the problems that we are faced with as a dying community we will then need to recognise that we can’t do it with the same thinking that created the problem in the first place.
And the question is can we generate enough commitment amongst the embryonic cohort to sustain the effort of a dialogue process that will transform community spirit into a more connected whole??
I am attaching a short piece on Di-a-logus which might be of interest.
Pat
Pat,Reading a special article on innovattion in the economist; it is summed up by a big cheese as :
‘fresh thinking that creates values;
That would pretty much sum up what we should aspire to achieve, isn’t it?Anyway, I’m sick today again; I think the immensity of the task is crushing me… Or rather it’s my way of looking at it that does… And the fact that the corporation is moving in with their bulldozers and won’t tell me what they’re doing./..
I think you were right in saying that we need ro get away from gaols (goals?) to concentrating on the mindset… Because that’s; the major impediment to change,,, and ultimately united action… We need to concentrate on what is really importent , what really counts, and less on what we want to achieve (something the Americans should have done many times over before getting into Irak!)… Because yes, it is a warfare situation; things are being done against the common good… For short term gain and no long-term consideration… It’s a farce, it’s a mess…so we need to make ourselves strong first… By building alliances, nurturing allegiance to the concept of a civic community for the common good of the many…
Over to you? Or any other takers?
TH.
I might not be able to connect before meeting as I have a few things on at the moment. So in case I can’t get there it might be useful to do this by email and what I say is nothing hard and fast so please add and adapt as you see fit.
I agree with you that going in on a narrow specific subject might be not be best yet but if it comes up it can be addressed. This group is in the early stages of connection and there is hopefully more to join and become involved and we will have a better sense of the shape of it after Monday’s session.
We have to some extent set the scene of why we are all sitting together –that is, that we are witnessing further destruction of the heritage of Suir Island in the interest of short-term expediency against a background of an inert larger/wider community response. Connecting the wider community, might be a question of creating some kind of debate [preferably a dialogue] within the community about the kind of community spirit we would like own and participate in creating. The objective would be to find agree a vision for what kind of community we would like to be part of ,that would include all of the diverse interest groups, as well concerned individuals and community activists.
If we focus at this stage on too narrow a perspective ie such as ‘stop the bulldozers’ ,we will in effect be going head to head with other community organisations [chamber,local authority, traders etc] and will ultimately be digging trenches and in for a long battle.
What I felt started to emerge from our first discussion, was the idea of using the island as a focus for the exercise of unifying the town.
So if we could frame a context in which we can now give some time to dialogue about the state of our affairs, a dialogue that we might consider bringing out into the wider community to stir up some passion and interest. We could start with something along these lines :
The state of neglect of Suir Island and the absence of any balanced plan for developing the space as a central amenity for the residents of the town, is further evidence that the centre or heart of Clonmel is being allowed to die, through a general lack of interest by the wider community. The overall lack of a co-ordinated response or voice from the community means that no-one is ‘minding the shop’, and we as individuals can only look on and witness the ongoing demise of our beautiful town.
How can we as a group of concerned individuals engage the wider interest of the town residents in becoming more aware and creating one voice for what is in the best interests of the town – the creation of spaces for the evolution of a healthy community spirit?
Let me know what you think and include others in framing the session for Monday
Pat
