The Battle to Save Tara Continues
As Motorway Construction Halted
DUBLIN - The Hill of Tara archaeological complex in County Meath has been nominated to the World Monuments Fund's List of 100 Most Endangered Sites.
It was nominated by TaraWatch, a group opposed to the planned routing of the M3 motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley, and the resulting despoilment it will cause to Ireland's oldest and most revered national monument.
After seven years surveying the Hill of Tara and its 80 kilometre hinterland as director of the government funded Discovery Program, Conor Newman said, "Tara is one of the most important and famous archaeological complexes in the world. All of our researches point to the valley between Tara and Skryne as an area of paramount importance throughout the history of Tara."
More recently, 12 eminent Irish historians and archaeologists in letters to The Irish Independent and The Examiner wrote, "The Hill of Tara constitutes the heart and soul of Ireland. Its very name invokes the spirit and mystique of our people and is instantly recognizable worldwide.
"The plan approved recently by An Bord Pleanla for the M3 motorway to dissect the Tara-Skryne valley, Ireland's premier national monument, spells out a massive national and international tragedy that must be averted."
Last month, just 24 hours after Transport Minister Martin Cullen turned the sod on the EU850 million project, it was announced that a massive prehistoric site had been discovered blocking the path of a new motorway.
Environment Minister Dick Roche ordered excavation work to halt in the Tara-Skryne valley
until the situation can be assessed.
The discovery has deepened divisions between supporters and opponents of the controversial route linking Dublin and Cavan. According to Dr. Conor Newman, this is just "the tip of the iceberg." He said construction of the motorway would impact at least 141 known sites.
TaraWatch has accused Roche of being aware at least a month prior to the announcement that a possible pre-historic "temple" had been unearthed on the route of the controversial M3 motorway.
It claims that the National Roads Authority alerted the Environment Department in April that an archeological site - the size of three football pitches - dating from 3,500 BC had been discovered at Lismullen, County Meath.
TaraWatch campaigners claim Roche issued draft directions to preserve the site "by record" - in effect, noting where the site was before destroying it to allow roadworks to begin. The Government insists no decision has been taken on its future.
TaraWatch points out that nowhere else in Ireland is there a landscape that can claim the Tuatha de Danann, Celtic Gods and Goddesses, St. Patrick, Daniel O'Connell, Thomas Moore, heroes and High Kings from Fionn MacCumhail to Brian Boru, an archaeological complex of temples, tombs, enclosures and henges spanning five millennia, and a continuous place at the centre of Irish spiritual, cultural, political and literary history, as part of its fabric.
For more details on the campaign to save Tara, visit: www.tarawatch.org.
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