I was invited to attend and speak to the Public Inquiry in Omagh
3 June 2026 by the local group ‘Save Our Sperrins’ (SOS). This Inquiry was set up by the Department and was supervised by three Commissioners who are supposed to be impartial. One of them acted like a cross schoolteacher dealing with unruly children shouting out threats and staring.
One of the issues raised at the Inquiry by the SOS was the presence of a Mass rock in the townland of Crockanboy hill overlooking Greencastle on the land where the Gold mine is said to be situated. This land around the Mass rock was always considered a sacred site in the local area. It was a place of prayer and pilgrimage. During the Inquiry today, a speaker on behalf of Dalradian denied the existence of a Mass rock claiming that there was ‘a stone slab lying on the ground which was hardly a place for an altar’. He claimed there never was a Mass rock there since there was no water nearby and it was not marked on any map.
I was asked to say a few words about the significance of Mass rocks in Irish history and culture. There were so many speakers that the time allotted to each speaker was limited. I had done some research on Mass rocks in County Fermanagh. There are 60 known Mass rocks in my native county. These were initially called ‘Mass Fields’. The whole area was regarded as sacred or sacramental. There could be a local stone used as an altar or there might be a portable structure used for an altar. They were also known as ‘penal altars’ as they were used as a result of the Penal Laws (1650-1755). Sometimes there were Holy wells in the vicinity.
These are some of my remarks to the Commission Inquiry on Goldmining in Tyrone held in Omagh on 3 June 2026.
“In 2016 in the month of June -10 years ago- Pope Francis issued a letter LAUDATO Si reminding all people of good -will about the sacredness of the earth and the water and the threat to our planet Earth by Mining and industrial farming.
I was inspired by the words of Pope Francis in his Encyclical Laudato Si. I am inspired by the example of the SOS campaign.
I am totally opposed to the Dalradian Company from Canada-USA mining in the Sperrins –for a number of reasons:
1. Their mining will do untold and permanent damage to the environment. This part of Ireland is an area of outstanding beauty with a rich cultural and religious heritage.
2. They have divided the community with their plans to blast 700 metres deep into the earth for gold and their enticements to locals and unrealistic promises of jobs and prosperity for the whole area, Dalradian has already damaged the cohesion of this community in the Greencastle-Gortin area of Tyrone. They have undermined the age- old sense of community and neighbourliness/muintearas. It is the classic colonial tactic of ‘divide and conquer’. Preserving the community and protecting sacred places is one of my important duties.
It is clear to me that Dalradian has no respect for this community and its heritage and cultural history and the health and well-being of the people young and old who live here and the health and well-being of the generations to come.
The Mass rocks are a reminder of the Penal times in Ireland in the 1600s and 1700s-when the British banned Catholics from attending Mass and banished priests from the country. Catholics devoted to their faith had to gather for Mass in remote areas in order to be safe. Some were killed for attending Mass and many were banished from the country. This is part of the folk memory and is very important that we remember and never forget.
Dalradian has no interest in the Christian heritage of this community. Their only interest is making money -profit.
3. We must ask ourselves at this time -what kind of world and what kind of community do we want to leave after us for future generations. This community inherited a rich legacy in terms of stories and songs, faith and neighbourliness that must be preserved for future generations.
The intention of Dalradian to mine for gold in the Sperrin Mountains is a real threat to the health and well-being of this community and to the health of present and future generations. Poisonous chemicals are used in the drilling and processing of the rocks to extract the gold.
They have already admitted that they would be using 40 thousand tons of explosives to extract the rocks- if they get planning permission. 40-thousand tons of explosives!!!
My opposition to Dalradian is not just about preserving the Mass rock in Crockanboy or the other five Mass rocks in the area. My opposition is about preserving a way of life -a priceless heritage, a religious/faith tradition. The mass rocks are stones but it is what they represent and symbolise that is important. Dalradian does not understand this reality nor do they care.
This Dalradian Company are destroyers of the Earth and of this community and others throughout the world. They should not be given planning permission to continue the destruction of this beautiful and culturally rich environment. For those materialistic mining companies, Mass rocks have no value and the countryside has no value – and the sense of community that has existed for hundreds of years has no value. They do not seem to realise that to the local community these are far more precious than any mineral.
I believe the late Pope Francis is a voice for the voiceless. He is the voice of sanity and reason crying out in this insane and materialistic world. I am following his example and speaking out here today for an end to gold-mining in the Sperrins and on behalf of the local community for the health and well-being of future generations who will live here.
I found the whole experience at the Public Inquiry intimidating. After seeing a man there who was working for Dalradian sitting staring at everyone who came in through the front door of the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, I did not feel too comfortable. It was just as intimidating inside the theatre where the Inquiry is taking place. Dalradian and all their barristers and lawyers on one side and the Third parties on the other side. There was going to be no meeting of minds there. The three Commissioners did not inspire confidence that the SOS would get a fair hearing. The odds were stacked from the beginning.
We are sure that right is on our side and Dalradian is completely wrong in what they are attempting to do in the Sperrins –an area of outstanding beauty. They should never have been allowed in here in the first place –but even now we hope that their attempt to gain planning permission to destroy this beautiful and historic countryside in Tyrone will be rejected.
WE SHALL OVERCOME!
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