SOS Journey 2015 -2025 

(speech by Fidelma O’Kane, 21st July 2025, at SOS 10th anniversary celebration)

First meeting of Save Our Sperrins

*The first meeting of Save Our Sperrins was on 23rd June 2015 and it was held in the bar of Greencastle community Centre. It was the idea of Cormac McAleer and he chaired the meeting and about 20 people attended. He had invited James Orr from Friends of the Earth, Eamon McCann who was a journalist with Belfast Telegraph at that time and Geoffrey Simpson, an auctioneer from Omagh to speak. We’re delighted that all 4 men (Cormac, James, Eamon & Geoffrey) are with us today and we thank them for all they have done & continue to do for the campaign. No minutes were kept of that first meeting but I remember James Orr spoke about the Freshwater Pearl Mussels (FWPM) and showed slides with pictures of them. It was the first time I had heard of FWPM and I now know how important they are, as Ireland’s only globally endangered species.

Research, Posters, Leaflets & Public Information Meetings

* In the early years Save Our Sperrins spent a lot of time researching the impacts of goldmining in other countries and we learned about its toxic pollution of water, air, land and how it damages people’s health. We couldn’t find one good news story about goldmining anywhere in the world. We painted posters which were erected around this area to raise awareness of the issue. Over the years we wrote at least 6 information leaflets, printed out thousands of copies and distributed them at Public Information meetings held throughout Counties Tyrone and Derry initially and helped set up anti-mining groups in various places like Omagh, Park and Dungiven, etc. Later we were invited to speak at public meetings in South Armagh, Antrim and Fermanagh, places where there were applications for prospecting licences.

More Information Meetings throughout Ireland

* SOS has also spoken at Public Meetings in Donegal, Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan, Galway, Clare & Dublin.  In more recent years we have been invited by Trócaire to speak at several events –  in QUB along with people from Guatemala, in Derry at a Climate Justice event and another in Letterkenny. This year Save Our Sperrins was also invited to speak at Dublin City University and at An Taisce along with people from Colombia. 

The Environmental Gathering & CAIM

* SOS has been part of the Environmental Gathering in Derry since 2017 (Eamon McCann was one of the founding members) which holds regular meetings with various campaign groups in the north west of Ireland and beyond. Making contacts throughout Ireland has helped in forming an all-Ireland Network of groups opposed to mining, CAIM, Communities Against the Injustice of Mining, in 2021. Lynda Sullivan will be speaking later, representing CAIM. Lynda has been involved with us since Feb 2016 and we greatly value her knowledge and support. 

Dalradian Gold’s Planning Application

* Dalradian submitted their 10,000 page planning application in November 2017 and we spent a long time reading it and writing sample objections, which we photocopied in thousands and distributed at all the meetings we went to, throughout the country. We did similar work in relation to Dalradian’s 2019 Addendum 1 (15,000 pages)  and their 2020 Addendum 2 (20,000 pages).

Greencastle People’s Office (GPO)

* On 3rd February 2018 we received a phone call to say the fairies had been working overnight and that a caravan called Greencastle People’s Office had arrived on Dalradian’s proposed site and that it would be a focal point for all the anti-mining groups to use and for visitors to attend. That’s another story which would take too much time to tell now. Read the GPO daily blog – today is Day 2708.

PDAC 2018

* From early on we wondered how a Canadian company knew to come to the Sperrins to mine for gold, so in March 2018 we sent 2 of our people, Emmet and Sinéad, to Toronto to attend a PDAC conference – Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. There they saw and heard mining companies being invited to Ireland, north & south, by the Irish government & GSNI Geological Survey NI, under the heading “Ireland Open for Business,” and being promised tax incentives, relaxed environmental laws, streamlined permitting, etc. Emmet and Sinead also challenged Patrick Anderson CEO of Dalradian Gold twice and he ran off the stage and wouldn’t answer them.

Social & Traditional Media

* SOS use social media and traditional media to highlight the campaign. We have over 10,000 followers on Facebook & are also on Instagram, Twitter and a host of other platforms (including our recently launched LinkedIn profile). Initially traditional media were not very interested in us for several reasons – Dalradian paid for weekly advertisements in the local press and journalists/reporters told us about being harassed and threatened with legal action if they reported anything negative about Dalradian. The situation has improved in recent years – we appreciate that Lynsey Telford did an insightful report for BBCNI Spotlight in October 2021 and the campaign has been mentioned on CH 4, ITN, Al Jazeera, RTE and UTV. Shauna Corr, who is now an independent reporter, has followed the campaign faithfully over the years and we appreciate that she is here today! Other reporters we met over the years included George Monbiot, Tommy Greene & Mary Montague from The Guardian, Freya McClements from The Irish Times and Jon Snow, the Anchor Man!

Pickets & Protests

* SOS has held numerous protests and pickets over the 10 years and some of them were quite enjoyable! Photos on display illustrate some of them.

Direct Action

* Direct actions included Cormac chaining himself to a drill rig in January 2021 stopping the work; 4 men went on to the roof of Dalradian’s compound at Curraghinalt on 13th July 2021 and Barney chained himself to the gates of Dalradian’s compound in March 2021 to highlight that Dalradian was in breach of planning permission. 

Election of Independent anti-goldmining Councillor

* One of the highlights of the campaign was Emmet McAleer being elected as an Independent anti-goldmining Councillor to FODC in 2019. He effectively brought the whole issue about goldmining to the fore in the Council.

Events

* Save Our Sperrins has held many events over the years. Eg. From Standing Rock to Tyrone in July 2018 when we had a visit from 2 Lakota Native Americans with whom we formed a deep connection. They returned in 2023 with a group of Water Protectors who did a ceremonial walk over 3 days carrying a bucket of water from the source of the River Foyle close to here and returning it at Culmore Point outside Derry where the River Foyle enters the sea. We did a 24 hour fast in Dec 20 outside Omagh Courthouse, a white line picket outside Omagh police station in 2020 & in conjunction with others, participated in a walk from the GPO to Stormont in 2020 and a trip from the GPO Greencastle to the GPO Dublin in 2021.

Zoom meetings

* During Covid, we learned how to do zoom meetings and linked with people fighting mining in other countries such as: Peru, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Romania, Greece, Finland, Spain, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.

Visitors

* Other visitors of note over the years included Pedro of the Misak people from Colombia; Carlos Latuff, a Brazilian cartoonist; a group of 10 Zapatista young women from Mexico; Ramón from Chile; Mumba, a hip hop artist from Africa; people of the Munduruku tribe in the Amazon forest in Brazil,  etc.

Students

* I also want to mention the many students who visited us to study the issue of mining and our campaign – over the years we have met students from nearly every University in Ireland as well as Minnesota University – students who were undertaking study at various levels, undergraduate, masters and doctoral and we appreciate their interest and how they spread the word. I mention in particular, V’cenza Cirefice, who came as a participant researcher and who introduced us to the concepts of Photovoice and Countermapping, and who has continued to help us for the Public Inquiry.

NGOs & Trade Unions

* We have made very important links over the years with NGOs such as Friends of the Earth, London Mining Network, TRÓCAIRE, Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ), Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) & Frontline Defenders -who gave us a grant for dash cams and body cameras in 2019 following death threats against 3 of our people, as well as solidarity networks such as Yes to Life No to Mining (YLNM) and the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN). We also reached out to Trade Unions and received support from UNISON, NIPSA, UNITE, INTO, ICTU, Derry Trades Council, Mid-Ulster Trades Council & Omagh Trades Council.

JR

* I took a successful Judicial Review of a Discharge Consent granted to Dalradian in 2017 and that was a useful exercise as we’re now considering taking a JR against the Department for the Economy’s decision to grant 7 prospecting licences, although we’re hoping that the 4 Councils who have responsibility for the Sperrins AONB will take a joint Judicial Review, rather than leaving the work of environmental protection up to the people. 

Rights of Nature & Rights of Communities

* SOS learned about the interesting concepts of Rights of Nature and Rights of Communities from Mari Margill and Tomas Lindsey, 2 American lawyers of CELDF (now CDER) when they visited in 2019. Following that, Emmet got a motion on Rights of Nature passed in Fermanagh Omagh District Council in July 2019. When Dalradian applied to have a section of road abandoned, we asserted the Right of the Community  in April 2021  to use that road. 

Mission to London

* In December 2021, twelve of us at our own expense went on a 2 day visit to London to hand in a letter at 10 Downing Street, to meet with the Crown Estate and Critical Minerals Association and to picket Mines and Money conference and Orion Mine Finance, the company which owns 90% of Dalradian Gold. Thanks to Andy Whitmore from London Mining Network who moved us quickly from place to place – the first day we did 23,000 steps! The visit got widespread press coverage both in England and at home.

“Big Girls’ Playground!”

* Over the past few years we have moved to play in the big girls’ playground, having been invited to attend various roundtable conferences in Dublin by Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, Dunja Mijatovic, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights & Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders.

Submission to UN re Human Rights abuses arising from goldmine application 

* In 2022 we made a Civil Society submission to the United Nations for their review of the UK’s record on human rights. We were encouraged and indeed pushed to do this demanding task by Sr Majella, RIP. As part of it, we had to gather testimonials from local people who had suffered Human Rights abuses as a result of Dalradian’s proposed goldmine. 

Brussels Invitation

* In March 2024 we were invited to Brussels by the European Environmental Bureau to speak at a 2 day conference “Putting Rights First in a Green Transition”. Emmet represented Save Our Sperrins at it.

Committee for Administration of Justice report on policing of Protectors

* In Sept 2024 CAJ launched “Policing the Protectors – a narrative report of PSNI Policing of environmental protest in the Sperrins.” Michel Forst, Council of Europe Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, spoke at the launch via video link.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

* In June 2025 the NIHRC invited SOS to the launch of research they had commissioned on “the environment, Human Rights and the Windsor Framework,” and we believe information from that research will be very useful going forward.

Preparation for the Public Inquiry

* In preparation for the Public Inquiry, SOS held several public events including :

 “Mining the Public Inquiry” in 2023 in Mellon Country Inn, sponsored by Turas na nDaoine, (thanks Barry – great to see yourself and Mary here too);

– a Public Meeting in Greencastle community Centre in Feb 2024 to explain the process of the Public Inquiry into the goldmining application which 150 people attended.

– an Advice Clinic about writing a Statement of Case was held in April 2024 in Greencastle Community centre.  3 solicitors, 3 planners and an environmental engineer attended to help people write their Statements of Case for the Public Inquiry and we’re indebted to them for sharing their expertise.

Crowdfunder & fundraising

* In June 2023,  SOS started a Crowdfunder to enable us to employ some experts to help us present our case at the Public Inquiry – It has raised £54,500 to date and is still ongoing! 

In addition there have been several fundraising events in support of Save Our Sperrins  – 2 big concerts – Not an Nugget, not an ounce in the Millennium Forum, Derry in Sept 2023 & Sounds of the Sperrins in Dún Uladh, Omagh in October 2024, as well as a smaller concert in Dungiven and Salmon songs in Culmore, Derry; a concert in Clare, a sponsored silence in Leitrim, a coffee morning in Plumbridge, a garage sale in Omagh, art exhibitions in Park and Dungiven, a comedy night in Maghera, a table quiz in Draperstown, a night in Derrytresk, a launch of a CD in Derry, sale of 2 Taylor Swift tickets and the Art of Resistance Festival in Belfast where 55 artists from all over Ireland donated pieces of work. We appreciate all the support we have received over the years and continue to receive from numerous singers, poets, comedians and artists, some of whom are present. Sorry if I have left anyone out! (If anyone present wants to organise a fundraiser, talk to me afterwards!)

Experts for the Public Inquiry

* SOS has got several experts onboard with whom we have been working closely in preparation for the continuation of the Public Inquiry, whenever that may be.  We have been very lucky to have got the services of some experts free, especially Dr Steven Emerman, who has dedicated much time to supporting us with his expertise, and Dr Amy Strecker, Associate professor of Law, at UCD, who will be speaking later. Those who attended the Public Inquiry in January can attest to her in-depth knowledge and expertise in her field. 

Summary

* Ten years ago SOS started out as a small campaign to stop Dalradian Gold and over the years we have learned a lot. We are still learning every day and are now part of a global movement for climate justice, for basic human rights, such as a right to clean water and clean air. We are fighting for these rights for our children, grandchildren and future generations. We have read and written, protested and picketed, walked and talked, faced persecution and prosecution as a result.  We have been strengthened and greatly encouraged by the solidarity we have received from people, locally, nationally and internationally.  We are determined that this campaign will be successful & that there will be no goldmining in the Sperrins. Please God the next time we come together will be to celebrate the success of the campaign. Save Our Sperrins.

All images thanks to Save Our Sperrins and Greencastle People’s Office