Hill of Tara

There are “issues” affecting the Hill of Tara at the moment – traffic management, signage and interpretation, the erosion of visitor numbers through the site and their effect on the “very sensitive” earthworks which are injured by stud marks from people using the area as a training ground, the Chief State Archaeologist told Meath county councillors during a presentation on the Hill of Tara Conservation Plan to them at their February council meeting.

The meeting took place ahead of last week’s act of vandalism on the site in which the Lia Fail was spraypainted with the word ‘Fake‘

Michael McDonagh said he didn’t know what Meath’s ambitions were for the All-Ireland but he DID know that it was an issue that would have to be dealt with. Also, at different times of the year there was difficulty with people camping out on the site.

The Hill of Tara means a lot of different things to many people, he said. To some it’s a very sacred place, to other people it’s a training ground, and to others it’s a place where they can let their dogs go free to do whatever dogs do. These were some of the challenges that must be faced in caring for the long-term future of the site.

More: meathchronicle.ie/2023/02/19/the-objective-is-to-protect-conserve-and-promote-an-appreciation-of-the-hill-of-tara/

continues 10 July with Rock Art Writ Large – 4 wednesdays in July – 17 July 3D icons – 24 July Ogham in 3D.

Visitor Centre, Hill of Tara, Meath – start 8pm
Free admission

By Elaine Keogh

A 5,000-year-old standing stone has been vandalised on the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.

The Lia Fáil granite piece, also known as the Stone of Destiny, was apparently damaged with a heavy object, possibly a hammer.

Culture Minister Jimmy Deenihan said the damage to the national monument amounted to a “mindless act of vandalism”.

In recent days, it was noticed the stone had been struck with a heavy object and fragments of it had broken off.

Archaeologist Conor Newman, chairman of the Heritage Council, described the attack as “shocking”.

The stone is one of the main attractions at the former seat of the High Kings of Ireland.

Legend has it the Stone of Destiny would roar with joy when touched by the rightful king of Tara.

An inspection by an archaeologist with the National Monuments Service has concluded it was struck with a hammer or similar instrument at 11 separate places “on all four faces of the stone”.

It appeared the fragments of the stone which were chipped off had been removed as they were not visible nearby.

The National Monuments Service has reported the suspected vandalism to the Garda.

The minister yesterday said: “Vandalism, by definition, is a mindless act.

“The national monuments at Tara, which include this standing stone, are nationally and internationally renowned.

“These monuments are a fundamental part of our shared heritage and history, and I condemn in the strongest terms the damage that has been caused to this monument.”

Dr Newman, meanwhile, who also directed the Discovery Programmes work at Tara, said: “This is shocking and it indicates the degree of trust you need when it comes to heritage matters in Ireland, because so many of our sites are out in the open air. They cannot be policed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we rely an enormous amount on the public and visitors to behave appropriately.”

The department is looking at ways to increase surveillance at monuments.

The minister urged “all people to respect and appreciate the importance of our national monuments and to keep a watchful eye on any in their locality”.

A spokesperson for the Office of Public Works said: “While we cannot be certain about what exactly happened at the stone, it does appear to be an act of wanton vandalism.

“The OPW is saddened by the damage carried out at one of the most important national monuments in the country.

“The OPW would urge all members of the public to respect these important and historic monuments at all times.”

Navan-based Superintendent Michael Devine said an investigation was under way.

irishexaminer.com/ireland/5000-year-old-hill-of-tara-stone-vandalised-197305.html

A conservation plan has been commissioned for the State-owned lands on the Hill of Tara by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan.

The minister, in collaboration with the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Heritage Council, has commissioned the Discovery Programme to undertake the plan which, he said, “will illustrate the unique cultural and historical significance of Tara and identify appropriate policies to ensure its preservation and presentation”.

The area to be examined includes the immediate environs of the Hill which contribute to the experience and enjoyment of the monument.

While the conservation plan will also consider access and visitor amenity issues, Mr Deenihan stressed that Tara was “essentially an outdoor experience and that should not change”.

The minister emphasised that the emerging conservation plan would “place a key emphasis on consultation with stakeholders, and the local community in particular”. Ultimately, it is intended that the conservation plan for the Tara complex will act as an overarching framework for management and interpretation.

Navan area town and county councillors received a delegation from the Department of Heritage and the Heritage Council to brief them on the commissioning of the plan at their January meeting.

Ian Doyle of the Heritage Council, Brian Lacey of the Discovery Programme and Tom Condit of the Department’s National Monuments Service, provided an initial information briefing about the planned preparation of the plan.

Mr Lacey said the structure of a conservation plan is quite specific. It is recognised internationally as an ideal formula for protecting heritage and managing change in important historic places.

Since 2005, when the Cunnane Strattan Reynolds Report on the conservation of the Hill was submitted, there have been much more developments, including the completion of the M3 and the excavations associated with the motorway building, numerous publications relating to Tara, as well as remote sensing surveys, Mr Lacey told the meeting.

In the summer of 2010, the Discovery Programme and its partners at NUI Galway doubled the amount of geophysical surveys on the hilltop, revealing in the process what is almost certainly the previously unknown whereabouts of the medieval manor of Tara.

While broadly welcoming the report, councillors expressed concerns about possible restrictions on the Hill, as well as ‘Americanising’ the monument.

However, in response to Cllr Shane Cassells’ concerns that the ‘rawness’ of Tara which attracted people would be lost, Ian Doyle said there was no intention of creating the ‘Disneyfication’ of Tara, but the manage and help understand its character.

Cllr Joe Reilly said he hoped that the consultation process was not going to be similar to the recent one concerning Tara. “There is a sad history of consultation and failure to reach agreement 18 months ago,” he said.

Cllr Jim Holloway said it was an “exciting” project but that he hoped the “mystique” of Tara would be maintained. Cllr Tommy Reilly and Cllr Jenny McHugh asked that visitor facilities and car parking be looked at, with Cllr Reilly criticising the fact that the OPW centre is closed for the greater part of the year.

Mr Doyle said the purpose of the plan was to look at four points – access, value, protection and enjoyment. The Department officials requested that a representative of the council be appointed to the steering committee to oversee the project, and councillors agreed to consider this.

Archaeological works to investigate the significant degradation of the covering of the Mound of the Hostages have been completed. These excavations have resulted in the removal of a portion of the earthen mound over the passage tomb. Design options for conservation works to the passage tomb and the restoration of the mound are now being considered and will begin as soon as possible.

The Mound of the Hostages, Duma na nGiall, is one of the most prominent monuments among the concentration of prehistoric sites on the Hill of Tara. The covering of the mound is showing signs of significant degradation which, according to Minister Deenihan, “has begun to increase as a result of the very inclement weather over the last few years”.

He said that a non-invasive geophysical survey had already been completed which was followed by investigative archaeological excavations overseen by his Department and the Office of Public Works.

“The excavation results will feed into a detailed conservation and management plan for the mound,” added the minister.

The Tara-Skryne Preservation Group (TSPG) has welcomed Minister Deenihan’s announcement of a conservation plan. Carmel Diviney of the group, which was formed during the M3 motorway controversy, said it is a most welcome announcement to all concerned about the long-ranging state of disrepair on the Hill.

meathchronicle.ie/news/roundup/articles/2012/02/01/4008743-conservation-plan-to-protect-hill-of-tara-in-the-future/

“Meath which opens today. Protests are expected from a range of environmentalists and heritage activists, including the campaign group Tarawatch who complained the route of the motorway is unacceptably close to the Hill of Tara.”

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE: THE M3 motorway which cost an estimated €1 billion will be officially opened today.

The 61km motorway linking the Dublin/Meath border with the Meath/Cavan border is believed to be the largest single road project to be constructed in Ireland and incorporates bypasses of Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.

In addition to the motorway itself, the overall project involves a network of 49km of ancillary public roads and 34km of farm access roads.

Private security and a large contingent of gardaí will be in place for the opening ceremony, which is to take place near Kells, Co Meath, at 11am.

Protests are expected from a range of environmentalists and heritage activists, including the campaign group Tarawatch who complained the route of the motorway is damaging to the area and passes unacceptably close to the Hill of Tara.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) said anyone who feared the impact of the motorway on the Hill of Tara, the historic seat of the ancient high kings, should “assess it for themselves” over the bank holiday weekend or in the coming weeks.

“The weekend is a perfect opportunity for those who are concerned to get out and see what the fuss was all about,” said a spokesman.

It is also the latest of the State’s new motorways to be tolled. Motorists will face two tolls, at Clonee and Kells, under a public-private partnership between the State and a consortium involving civil engineering companies Ferrovial, Siac and Budimex.

Tolls will be set at €1.30 each, fixed in line with inflation. Despite assertions to the contrary from Tarawatch, the roads authority has insisted it is confident vehicle targets will be met in the first year of operation.

Following the completion of the major inter-urban motorways to Limerick and Waterford this October, all of the motorways between Dublin and the regional cities, as well as the Border, will feature tolls.

The roads authority said yesterday that private finance is likely to be involved in a greater share of its projects in coming years.

Current public-private partnerships in development include the Gort to Tuam motorway in Co Galway; the upgrade of Newlands Cross, Dublin; N11 improvements in Co Wicklow; and the southern section of the M20 Cork to Limerick road.

Construction of the M3 was controversial not only because of its proximity to the Hill of Tara, but also because it was used by the European Commission as an example of non-compliance by Ireland with European planning directives.

In 2007, then EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said the commission considered Ireland’s approach to decisions involving the destruction or removal of historic structures and archaeological monuments to be in breach of EU rules.

irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0604/1224271819706.html

“These monuments were irretrievably damaged, however, in some cases destroyed and for what? The route chosen wasn’t the only possibility, but viable alternatives were dismissed without a second look. In hindsight and given the collapse of the economy, the motorway itself may not even have been necessary. Some people obviously thought so. As has recently been revealed, Eurolink were given a minimum traffic guarantee, which surely indicates prior consideration, if not expectation, of low usage levels.

“Anyone with half an eye on national events will concede that this is a country where the elite are in and out of each others pockets, smoothing their respective ways along. You wouldn’t have to be particularly conspiracy-minded to smell something fishy in the alterations of laws when they prove inconvenient to ‘progress’. Or the swift ‘about-face’ of the Greens when they arrived in Government. Why was this route and project, opposed by the EU, prominent archaeologists and a significant body of the public, untouchable?”

More here – heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/m3-co-meath-the-end-of-the-road/

Tara Lecture Series 2009

Wednesdays in July.

Hill of Tara Visitor Centre

July 1st
8.00pm
‘How the Ancient Irish viewed the Skies‘
by Terry Moseley, Irish Astronomical Association

July 8th
8.00pm
‘Galileo and the Copernican Revolution‘
by Professor Markus Woerner,NUI Galway

July 15th
8.00pm
‘Irish Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century‘
by Professor Trevor Weekes, Smithsonian Institution

July 22nd
8.00pm
Exploring the Cosmos: the view from Hubble and Beyond
by Dr Deirdre Coffey, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies

All lectures are Free of Charge
All Welcome!

Organised by the Office of Public Works in association with
the International Year of Astronomy

SCIENTISTS have unearthed what appears to be a mammoth wooden version of the famous Stonehenge monument at the Hill of Tara.

In a revealing new RTE documentary, many theories and insights into the country’s prehistoric past and 150,000 ancient monuments are unveiled and explained.

For the first time, people will be able to view a computer-generated recreation of what archaeologists believe was a major wooden structure -- a version of Britain’s Stonehenge -- at the ancient seat of the Irish high kings in the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.

Archaeologist Joe Fenwick revealed a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser beam had been used to scan the ground surface to create a three-dimensional map, which revealed more than 30 monuments around Tara.

Using another technique -- described as taking an X-ray through the hillside -- archaeologists discovered the huge monument, a ditch stretching six metres wide and three metres deep in the bedrock.

The ditch, circling the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb, separated the outside world from the ceremonial centre of Tara.

It was believed the ancient architects had also surrounded the ditch with a massive wooden structure on each side -- a version of Stonehenge -- on a large scale. Its sheer size meant a whole forest would have had to be cleared to build it.

“In scale, it is comparable, for example, to Croke Park’s pitch. The Hill of Tara had enormous ritual significance over the course of 5,000-6,000 years, so it’s not surprising that you get monuments of the scale of the ditch pit circle,” said Mr Fenwick, from the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway.

Cutting-edge technology is helping to provide a new insight into the lives of our ancestors, according to the documentary makers behind ‘Secrets of the Stones’.

Civilisation

It shows Ireland’s first civilisation began 7,000 years ago, they withstood major climatic changes and voyaged throughout Europe, returning with new religions and mementos.

An RTE spokesman said the broadcaster, along with the Department of Education, would be sending two free copies of the book accompanying the series to all second-level schools in the country.

The first part of the ‘Secrets of the Stones’ will be shown on RTE One at 6.30pm on Easter Monday.

- Louise Hogan

independent.ie/national-news/wood-you-believe-it-stonehenge-find-at-tara-1706040.html

PATRICK LOGUE

Saturday, February 28, 2009

ONE OF the most respected educational and research institutes in the United States has listed the Hill of Tara among the 15 must-see endangered cultural treasures in the world.

The Tara complex in Co Meath, the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland, has been the subject of controversy because of the nearby construction of the M3 motorway.

The March edition of the magazine published by Washington’s Smithsonian Institution says “the clang of construction equipment can be heard at the Co Meath site nowadays. The Smithsonian features 14 other “precious historic and artistic sites” around the world which, it says, “can be visited today, but might be gone tomorrow”.

“Each testifies to our urge to build and create; each reminds us of how much we stand to lose,” says the Smithsonian.

Other sites listed include the reputed birthplace of Jesus Christ, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; Chan Chan in Peru, the largest city in the Americas about 600 years ago; and the crumbling Route 66 across the US.

Campaigners say the M3 will cut through one of Ireland’s most important historical sites, but the National Roads Authority says the new motorway will be farther away from the hill than the existing route. The motorway is scheduled to be finished in the middle of next year.

Last month the Hill of Tara was listed among a number of locations which have been nominated for inclusion on a list of possible Unesco world heritage sites.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch, who is quoted in the Smithsonian article, said it “should send a clear message to both the Irish Government, and Unesco, that they cannot proceed with inscribing the Hill of Tara as a world heritage site, unless the M3 is rerouted.”

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum complex and research organisation.

irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0228/1224241986012.html

WRITE to [email protected]

tarawatch.org

PRESS RELEASE – TARA CAMPAIGNERS – Tara Landscape for UNESCO Tentative list,
Celebrations for Imbolc (Brigit’s Day) at Tara,
Campaigners appear in Court 28 January 2009

Tara campaigners nominate the Tara Landscape for Tentative List of World Heritage Sites
Tara campaigners have submitted a form to the Department of the Environment asking that the Tara landscape be place on the Tentative List of potential sites to be nominated for World Heritage Status. Minister Gormley announced his intention to update the list of potential sites – it has not been updated since 1992 and the Irish Republic has only 2 WHS at present. These are Scellig Michil and The Bend in the Boyne (including Newgrange). According to the Department’s guidelines, the submission includes details on UNESCO World Heritage criteria, a definition of what constitutes Outstanding Universal Value in a World Heritage context, an explanation of authenticity, integrity and significance on a global basis.
Campaigners have expressed concern about the integrity of the site, saying:
“The integrity of part of Tara’s core area, however, is now being adversely affected by the building of the M3 motorway through the Gabhra Valley, particularly by the Blundelstown interchange … within the universally recognised core area of Tara’s landscape. Secondary development around this interchange will undoubtedly pose a still greater threat to the integrity of this landscape in the future”.
The submission emphasises the importance of nominating the wider landscape, including the Gabhra Valley, rather than confining the World Heritage Site to the crown of the hill and says: “The Hill of Tara, therefore, represents the ritual and political focus of a larger territory or landscape”.

Imbolc (St Brigit’s Day) at Tara
Tara campaigners will celebrate the feast of Imbolc, one of the four ancient Celtic festivals of Ireland, at Tara on Sunday 1st of February. They intend to mark the festival by walking sunwards around the Hill with lights or lanterns at dusk, paying homage to the ancient festival while highlighting the continued destruction of the Tara Complex due to the works of the M3 Motorway now reaching its end phase. People are invited to gather in the Hill of Tara car park at 4.30.

Campaigners said: “This should also act as a reminder of the hubris style development which ran riot over our country for the last ten years, laying our environment, social system and economy low, something Tara protesters always warned about and which has now came true”.

A number of campaigners appeared again in Navan District Court on 28th January, only to hear that the case was to be mentioned again on 22nd April. But a date for the hearing should be decided on that date. The case will probably last a number of days as there will be about 30 witnesses and video footage will be available as evidence. A Judicial Review heard by the High Court in late 2008 was successful – the documents that had been requested by the defence lawyers were produced by the State.

Tara Campaigners have also written to all the TDs, asking that, due to the dire economic circumstances, the M3 be halted and that the Meath Master Plan be implemented instead. This would have a more sustainable, viable and environmentally-friendly option. In the present climate, continuing with the M3 is akin to economic madness.

John Farrelly 087-1276829 (Imbolc Event)
On behalf of Save Tara campaigners
savetara.com

A PRESTIGIOUS forum of the world’s leading archaeologists is to debate the “ethics” surrounding a decision to build a motorway near the Hill of Tara.

In what could prove to be highly embarrassing for the Government, the World Archaeological Congress is to hold a public debate on whether a decision to run a motorway through one of the country’s most sensitive archaeological sites was merited.

The M3 motorway is expected to be completed in two years. Since the final route was announced, academics worldwide and a group of campaigners living in the Tara Skryne Valley have criticised the decision.

The World Archaeological Congress will meet in Dublin from June 29 next.

- Irish Independent – Saturday June 07 2008

independent.ie/national-news/leading-archaeologists-to-debate-ethics-of-tara-road-1401303.html

=
Archaeology event to discuss Tara

Irish Times – breaking news
Last Updated: 06/06/2008 19:59

The Hill of Tara will be debated by leaders in the world of archaeology at an international conference next month.

A round-table session in Dublin about the ethics of the construction of the controversial M3 motorway will form part of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress (WAC-6).

The non-governmental group – the only archaeological organisation with elected global representation – holds an international convention every four years to promote the exchange of archaeological research, professional training, and the conservation of archaeological sites.

The M3 Motorway/Hill of Tara will be one of two themes debated by the WAC Ethics Forum during the event at University College Dublin from June 29th to July 4th.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch, which will submit a position statement for the debate, said campaigners are delighted Tara will be addressed by an impartial international forum of this calibre.

“The Tara/M3 issue has received massive international attention . . . but the debate in Ireland itself has been very muted, especially within professional archaeological circles,” he said.

“This debate is going to be explosive, as there are a lot of reputations riding on this issue, and positions have become very entrenched on both sides.”

PA
ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0606/breaking74.htm

NEW SAVE TARA PETITION TO UNESCO, ICOMOS AND WAC-6 savetarapetition.net

FACEBOOK SAVE TARA CAUSE:
apps.facebook.com/causes/827?recruiter_id=6916545

MYSPACE SAVE TARA CAUSE:
causes.com/myspace/causes/71127?recruiter_id=15131077

guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/02/northernireland.tara

Seamus Heaney claimed this weekend that the ancient Hill of Tara was safer under British rule than the present Irish government, describing the construction of a motorway near the site as a betrayal of ‘Ireland’s dead generations’.

The Nobel laureate’s attack on the construction of the €800m road linking Dublin with Counties Meath and Cavan is compounded by sharp criticism from the World Monuments Fund. The New York-based organisation has compared the building of the motorway through the Tara Skreen valley to the Taliban’s deliberate destruction of the giant Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001.

The assaults on the Tara motorway project are broadcast in a documentary this weekend on BBC Radio Ulster.

The Irish government has insisted the road is a vital piece of infrastructure to ease severe traffic congestion suffered by commuters in the satellite towns on the north and west of Dublin. Conservationists and historians from all over the world furiously oppose the project, which they say will desecrate the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland – and a place of Celtic mythological legend.

Speaking on Tar and Tara, to be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster at 2.30pm today, Heaney said the Irish government had ignored the sacred and spiritual significance of Tara.

‘The proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916 summoned people in the name of the dead generations. If ever there was a place that deserved to be preserved in the name of the dead generations from prehistoric times up to historic times, up to completely recently – it was Tara.‘

On the attitude of the Irish government, Heaney said: ‘Tara had been protection under British rule. I was reading around recently and I discovered that WB Yeats and George Moore and Arthur Griffith wrote a letter to the Irish Times, some time at the beginning of the last century, because a society called the British Israelites had thought the Arc of the Covenant was buried in Tara, and they had started to dig on Tara Hill. And they [Yeats et al] had written this letter and they talked about the desecration of a consecrated landscape. So I thought to myself if a few holes in the ground made by amateur archaeologists was a desecration, what’s happening to that whole countryside being ripped up is certainly a much more ruthless piece of work.‘

The Nobel literature prize winner said Tara was ‘a source and a guarantee of something old in the country and something that gives the country its distinctive spirit’.

Dr Jonathan Foyle, the World Monuments Fund’s UK chief executive, said: ‘This actually reminds me of the Bamiyan Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. It was a government that decided that these monuments would be erased, and cultural erasure is part of the game of war and buildings very often suffer from that.

‘This entire site [at Tara] is the equivalent of Stonehenge and Westminster Abbey all rolled into one. And that is to be made way for, well, maybe not a radical Islamist view of God, but it is a radical view of Western consumerism as a be-all and end-all that must be serviced by the state. I really think that to destroy culture to shave 20 minutes off a journey time and turn County Meath into a vast car park is a really quite radical thing to do.‘

The European Commission has begun legal proceedings against the Irish government over its decision last year to build through an archaeological find classed as a ‘national monument’ at Lismullen, close to Tara on the M3.

Noel Dempsey, the Irish Minister for Transport, refused to participate in the programme.

The Save Tara campaign has learned that the a slip road will pass
within
7metres of a souterrain at Lismullin in the Gabhra Valley, Co Meath
instead of the supposed 100metres. Protesters stopped construction work

and tree felling at the site of the souterrain this morning 22nd
February. The structure has not been excavated as it was not one of the

sites initially listed as being impacted by the motorway route.

This souterrain is just the latest in a line of new sites that are
coming to light in this area after the initial surveys had been carried

out. They include the ancient temple, a wood henge, that was declared a

National Monument in May 2007. The geophysical survey had failed to
identify the huge site. Soon afterwards a souterrain was discovered
close to the henge and during excavation a huge decorated stone was
uncovered bearing megalithic art that is very similar to that found at
Newgrange and Knowth (c.3000 B.C). This again showed the connection
between Tara and the Gabhra Valley as the nearest example of megalithic

art is to be found in the passage tomb of the Mound of the Hostages on
the summit of the Hill of Tara AND In terms of style this example also
bears a remarkable similarity to that found in this monument. The stone

had been split in ancient times to fit into the souterrain and the
remaining section may lie somewhere else in this archaeological
complex.

The ancient promontory fort of Rath Lugh watches over this entire area
and the M3 is planned to pass within 20metres of this site despite NRA
assurances that it would be 110metres away from it. Minister John
Gormley placed a Temporary Preservation Order on the Rath Lugh but this

will not prevent the road from passing dangerously close to the
foundations of the Rath that include an esker – an unstable geological
feature made up of sand and gravel.

Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin said: “This proves again, if proof were
needed, the rich archaeological heritage of the Gabhra Valley and that
this route should never have been chosen for the road. We call on
Minister Gormley to act now before another archaeological site is
destroyed. All these sites are part of the greater Tara landscape.
Another major mistake has been made in the location of this souterrain.

How many more mistakes have been made or will be made? ‘

Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin

savetara.com
Photographs of the souterrain, taken yesterday, here:
s168.photobucket.com/albums/u167/muireanntemair/Lismullin%2021%20Feb%202008/

High Court action seeks to protect site near Tara
Irish Examiner – 06 February 2008
By Dan Buckley

A HIGH COURT action was launched yesterday aimed at protecting the Lismullin national monument near Tara. The action is being taken by Gordon Lucas, who is seeking to enforce EU directives on national monuments.
He is seeking an injunction and a declaration that the National Monuments Act 2004 is in breach of EU law. Lismullin was declared one of the top 10 most important archaeological discoveries in 2007 by Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. The Hill of Tara has also been placed on the 2008 list of 100 most endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund.

Last year, archaeologists working on the route of the motorway stumbled on a vast Iron Age ceremonial enclosure, or henge, surrounded by two walls. The 2,000-year-old site is about 2km from the Hill of Tara. The discovery of the henge, measuring about 260ft in diameter, confirmed the long-held belief that the area contains a rich complex of monuments. The extent of archaeological remains on the Hill of Tara — burial mounds, religious enclosures, stone structures, and rock art dating from the third millennium BC to the 12th century AD — makes it Ireland’s most spiritually and archaeologically significant site.

Lismullin and other sites that stand in the way of the new motorway are now approved for destruction. Although archaeologists are rallying support worldwide for the protection of the Hill of Tara, the iconic site remains in great peril, according to the lobbying group Tara Watch. The European Commission has initiated legal action against the Government over the M3, charging Ireland with failing to protect its own heritage.

A Red C opinion poll has found that almost two-thirds (62%) of Irish adults agree that the current format set down for the M3 is wrong, and that alternatives should be found to protect the heritage sites. More than half (58%) support a proposed heritage park solution, while 31% agree they would prefer to keep the M3 running through the valley as already agreed.

Vincent Salafia of protest group TaraWatch said: “This is a parallel case to the case being taken against Ireland by the European Commission, which states the Irish government is in breach of EU law. Work should cease immediately within the Tara archaeological complex, until this matter is resolved. “It is ironic that the Irish government is pushing its citizens to adopt the Lisbon Treaty, while they flatly refuse to obey current EU law with regards to protection of the environment and the national monument at Lismullin,” said Mr Salafia.

A brief resume of all that has happened regarding the destruction of this rather precious site. The ‘trial’ of the eleven protestors will take place on the 28th January 2008.

indymedia.ie/article/85637

“...to support the courageous people of the front line at the Hill of Tara, who – regardless of risks for their lives, health or civil rights – have been blocking the bulldozers for months now, which are digging up ancient ground, the ground of an official World Heritage Site, the ground that holds the first High Kings of Ireland...”

More info here:

myspace.com/taravigilcampcd

****************************************************

“Orthostat, The Mound of Hostages”

Sean Moriarty’s research paper which shows the complexity and signifacance of the Hill of Tara and the orthostat at the Mound of Hostages can be read and downloaded here:

knowth.com/tara-orthostat.htm

The film by Maireid Sullivan (which is on this profile) which is based on Sean Moriarty’s reasearch paper “Orthostat, The Mound of the Hostages”

Tara: Voices from Our Past ~ a recent discovery
a short film by Mairéid Sullivan

“Over the past five years, there has been considerable controversy regarding construction of the M3 Motorway in County Meath, especially in light of the discoveries at Roestown, Lismullin and Soldier Hill. While those finds are extremely significant, they pale in comparison to a more recent discovery at Tara.

A short film by the award winning documentary filmmaker and musician Maireid Sullivan, which is based on the research paper “Orthostat, The Mound of the Hostages” shows that the complexity and importance of The Hill of Tara goes well beyond what we’ve known about the site for the past few millennia.

The Tara complex is a major part of the cultural heritage of the Irish people, yet it’s being destroyed by those in the government who have been entrusted with protecting it. In stark contrast, governments of third world countries are going to great lengths to excavate, restore, preserve and protect their monuments, and prosecute those who injure or deface them.”

The Government could face fines imposed by the European Union over its handling of the M3 motorway project in the Tara-Skryne valley following legal action which gets underway today.

The European Commission is expected to begin legal action against the Government today over the manner in which it has proceeded to build the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

The decision will provide a boost to campaigners who are trying to force Minister for the Environment John Gormley to consider re-routing the motorway.

The legal move is not expected to halt the construction of the road, but it will force the Government to defend its position at Europe’s highest court, a process that could eventually lead to the imposition of fines if it loses the case.

Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas will tell his commissioner colleagues at a meeting in Brussels today that the National Monuments Act in the Republic does not offer enough protection for important archaeological sites.

He will also highlight alleged weaknesses in Irish law that split decision-making between Irish planning authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for industrial projects.

Meanwhile, pressure group TaraWatch has described as “significant” the discovery of a new archaeological site in the path of the M3 motorway, at the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath.

The group called on Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, to place a preservation order on the site which it says may be a fortified complex.

The site is located between the defensive fort of Rathmiles and the burial ground at Soldier Hill, the newly discovered site is further proof that the Hill of Tara constitutes a vast archaeological complex.

ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1017/breaking7.htm

THE European Union Petitions Committee, which visited the Tara-Skryne Valley and the route of the M3 motorway in June, has called for a substantial review of the environmental impact of the M3 and for less intrusive alternative routes to be designated which should safeguard the area for the Irish nation.
The delegation from the European Parliament said it was perplexed by the choice of route and by the damage done to the integrity of the many sites in the Tara area and the Gabhra Valley which had been drawn to its attention by petitioners, mentioning sites in particular at Baronstown, Collierstown, Roestown and Dowdstown.
It says it is also concerned as to why it has been deemed necessary to build one of the largest M3 intersections precisely at the most vulnerable location in terms of Ireland`s national heritage.....

more here; meathchronicle.ie/story.asp?stID=910&cid=126&cid2=134

An Emergency Situation is developing at the Lismullin Site where Construction Works to Divert the Gabhra River have Seriously Breached the 250m Exclusion Zone of the National Monument.

Heavy machinery and gravel lorries moved in to the Lismullin site this afternoon to begin works to divert the historic Gabhra River as part of the M3 Construction.
Observers were immediately concerned as machines began excavating well within the 250m exclusion zone around the Lismullin National Monument. There was no Archaeologist present as NRA Contractors made deep excavations & backfilled with truckloads of hardcore only 120m from the Lismullin Henge.
Activists entered the site and were able to stop work for most of the afternoon by occupying the diggers. Gardai were called to the site and activists were given a Caution not to interfere with works. However, two people re-entered the site and have stopped two of the machines by standing on them.

These incursions show a blatant disregard for the EU concerns currently being voiced about the legality of destroying a National Monument without a further Environmental Impact Assessment being made. The EU petitions Commitee is due to meet tomorrow (13th September), hopefully Lismullin will be high on the agenda.

indymedia.ie/article/84178?author_name=Helen%

Irish Independent
EU threatens huge fines if Tara M3 work is not halted
Thursday August 30 2007
WORK on the controversial section of the M3 near the Hill of Tara must
now stop.
And the Government now faces the prospect of being hit with millions of
euro in fines if it allows construction to proceed.
The Irish Independent has learned that the EU Commission has told the
Goverment that no work can be carried out near the national monument
discovered at Lismullin, Co Meath.
And it has ordered that a comprehensive assessment of what impact the
road will have on the Tara Skryne Valley be carried out before the road
is built.
The warning came as a legal challenge was launched yesterday aimed at
stopping the proposed motorway.
Michael Canney from the Campaign to Save Tara group issued legal
proceedings against the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for
Transport, the National Roads Authority and Eurolink Ltd, the consortium
awarded the construction and tolling contract.
The case centres on how the route of the motorway was chosen and Mr
Canney alleges that a comprehensive assessment of each route was not
carried out in line with EU law before the ‘preferred’ route was chosen.
And the Irish Independent can reveal that the EU Commission has warned
the Government that Ireland is in breach of EU law by not carrying out a
second investigation after the discovery of a national monument along
the route.
Former Environment Minister Dick Roche, in one of his last acts in
office, issued a direction that the Lismullin monument be excavated
before the road is built over it.
But a spokesperson for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said
yesterday that Ireland was in breach of EU law by not carrying out a
second Environmental Impact Assessment after the monument was discovered.
“At the moment we are still talking to the Irish authorities,” the
spokesperson said. “We want a second assessment. The road cannot be
built until the second assessment is done.
“We have a legal disagreement with Ireland. We are saying you have now
uncovered this national monument, and you cannot proceed until there is
a second assessment.”
In a separate development Michael Canney is seeking a court ruling that
construction works on the motorway should be halted pending the outcome
of the case currently being taken by the EU Commission.
The case is the first of three threatened legal challenges to the €800m
motorway planned to help ease congestion on the Dublin to Meath route.
Yesterday Mr Canney said it was being taken as a ‘last resort’ and
because the ‘political and commercial backers’ of the project had
ignored public concerns about the road.
“It has never been my ambition to put my name forward in a legal
challenge, especially a challenge against such a seemingly impregnable
array of powerful political and economic forces,” he said.
“I have only done so as a last resort, and only because it is absolutely
essential that the silent majority who oppose this road have their
concerns heard.”
.............................................

‘International Expert Report Calls for Preservation of “Unique” Lismullin Amphitheatre’;
Dr.Ronald Hicks has written a full and explanatory report on the need to save Lismullen..........

indymedia.ie/article/83880

The article can be found at the following link below...

“The monument discovered earlier this year at Lismullin is, quite simply, unique. For that reason, if for no other, it should be preserved.”

tarawatch.org/?p=470

This is a message for activists who are up for helping the Irish protesters in their fight to avert the new M3 motorway away from an extremely ancient site, far predating Stonhenge.

Irish Authorities are overriding an EU condemnation that this part of the motorway’s construction is ILLEGAL and are about to bulldoze a recently excavated woodhenge, details below. The deep levels of corruption involved in the ‘development’ of this area are mind boggling.

There has been a small but strong protest camp at Tara since before the new year and now these amazing people are crying out for numbers. I’ve literally just got home to Bristol now and will be driving back over there next Tuesday 14th. It was almost impossible to leave. Please get in touch if you want to travel with us. If you are a van driver, even better – perhaps we could rally a really useful number of people.

The authorities are proposing to start dismantling the henge THIS tuesday morning so please please please, if you’ve been considering a trip to Ireland go now. Even if you haven’t, despite the heartbreak of what is happening there, you can’t help being overwhelmed with the atmosphere of the place. It’s done me so much good to be there. There are 2 camps, one up on the hill of tara itself, and one in the woods at Rath Lugh, where the henge, known as Lismullin is situated. Direct action is in progress but our help is urgently needed.

Road protests are new in Ireland as we all know it has remained unspoiled for hundreds of years, so people with direct action experience are critically needed.

National Express do a funfare from London to Cork via Bristol on bus & boat from £15 each way. If there are funfares available on different routes it will offer them if you click on Europe on their homepage and put in your travel details.

If you take the London – Bristol – Cork route get off the boat at Wexford, take a bus or train to Dublin then the 109 bus from Busaras Station towards Navan and Kells. Tara is about 50 minutes down this route. The driver will tell you where to get off. There’s a camp phone number at the bottom, or if you want to ask anything please get in touch. If you take a night crossing you can sleep and be at Tara by lunchtime.

If you can, please get there for Mon 6th/Tues 7th. Otherwise there will be at least one van leaving Bristol next Tuesday 14th, or alternatively to that there is another wave planned for Saturday 1st September. It would be great to get a van from London and Bristol organised.

A couple of surges of numbers and a huge spreading the word could still avert the road plans to any of the other 5, less damaging proposed routes. But nothing i say will compare to the feeling of being there, and then understanding why we’d be doing the right thing to protect it.

www.myspace.com/hilloftara
www.tarapixie.net
www.savatara.com
www.tarawatch.org

Cheers for reading all this.

From the camp:

A Call for Help From
The Ancient City Of
Tara
Co. Meath, Ireland

Your Presence is Urgently Needed

This place in county Meath Ireland is the location of a recently discovered Prehistoric Wood Henge

This Henge is the oldest astronomical observatory yet found anywhere in the world

The Irish Government M3 Motorway is routed directly through the Henge and a further one hundred and forty plus sacred sites. Common sense will tell you that the valley is of profound importance locally, nationally and internationally. Initial excavations by archaeological consultancy services Ltd (funded by the NRA national roads authority) revealed a ceremonial burial chamber at the centre of the 80m diameter complex. The grave contained the bones of a woman adorned with gold necklace and bracelets. It also contained the bones of a large hunting dog and horse. She had been buried with the utmost respect and full ceremonial honours. A Queen or Priestess of high regard. These remains have been removed and relocated to A.C.S Ltds warehouse on the outskirts of Dublin . No mention of this reached the media Why??

We Need You Now!

The Tara Skyrne valley is a key to all of our pasts

The NRA plans to move on the Henge on Tuesday 7th August at 5am

If we cannot show our presence in physical numbers this sacred site will be gone forever

Contact: Tara solidarity vigil no. (00353) 861758557 www.tarapixie.net

EU officials have called on the Irish Government to halt work on part of the M3 motorway after concern was expressed about the impact on newly discovered ruins at the Hill of Tara, it emerged today........... more here;-

ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0730/breaking61.htm

“Sinn Féin said today it would seek to have the controversial section of the M3 motorway diverted away from the Hill of Tara if in government.

Outlining the party’s environmental policies, Dublin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said: “The current Government’s track record on protecting Ireland’s archaeological and architectural heritage is disgraceful.”

Mr Ó Snodaigh said: “Under the so-called Environment Minister Dick Roche, they have pursued a relentless, no-holds barred campaign of destruction, as they seek to plough roads and motorways through historic sites, allow the sale of priceless historic artefacts, which are rightly the property of the Irish nation, and neglect and let fall into ruin key historic buildings which should be promoted as major tourist attractions.”

He said that while Sinn Féin fully supports the upgrading of the country’s road this does not have to be done at the cost of the wholesale destruction of the environment or precious heritage. ”

from ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0519/breaking39.htm

Press Release;

The Campaign to Save Tara is very pleased at today’s announcement that
construction is to be stopped on the proposed route of the M3 through
the Tara/Skreen Valley. Under the National Monuments Act the
archaeologists contracted by the NRA were forced to declare a likely
National Monument has been discovered. It had been the Save Tara
Campaign that first alerted the National Museum to the potential
significance of the Liamullen site, a wood henge which is within 100mts
of the Rath Lugh monument, and directly within the path of the proposed
motorway. It is known that the Museum immediately contacted the NRA
seeking information on the find. Henges are generally used for
ceremonial activity and this directly links the Valley with the top of
the Hill of Tara where a similar henge was found by the Discovery
Programme archaeologists Conor Newman and Joe Fenwick.
This Government does not exactly have a stellar record in dealing with
heritage or archaeology and the amended National Monument Act of 2004
gives the Minister permission to destroy this precious area. The
Campaign would ask again that any construction by held off until the
election is over and a new Government may be put in place.
The Lismullen site had not been accurately identified during the initial
archaeological survey of the route and the discovery of a henge almost
80mts in diameter and comprising of two concentric circles caused
surprise to the archaeological contractors and near-apoplexy at the
National Roads Authority. It would appear that there are underground
passages associated with the henge.
Michael Canney from the campaign said: ‘Everybody knew that this route
was destined to destroy the landscape of Tara if it went ahead. The
advice of national and international experts was ignored. This route was
chosen because it was favored by local politicians and businessmen. That
this monument has been discovered is more by accident than by design and
many other sites that were of significance have been hastily and
inadequately surveyed. We now can on the Government and the NRA to
abandon this route – admit they have made a serious mistake and act
properly and positively to protect our heritage.‘
Mr. Canney continued: ‘Minister Cullen and the NRA must now admit that
this road is wholly inappropriate for the landscape of Tara and initiate
a review of the whole project. The people of Meath deserve to have a
decent rail transport system and the line to Navan should be re-opened
immediately. This road would have done nothing to create local jobs, and
in fact would have exacerbated the multitude of problems faced by the
people of Meath regarding planning and transport.‘
Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin
Campaign to Save Tara

Call for an end to clearing of trees near Tara
Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Irish Times
Saturday, January 6, 2007

The Save Tara campaign has urged Opposition TDs to call a halt to the
“premature clearing” of trees in the Gabhra Valley, east of the Hill of
Tara in Co Meath, and to reroute the M3 motorway “before we pave over
history, literature and archaeology”.

In a statement yesterday, it said that the public should visit the
sites where trees had been felled to verify – contrary to claims by its
proponents – that the motorway would be closer to Tara than the
existing N3.

Save Tara said that the tree-felling at Rath Lugh, near Lismullin, and
at Blundelstown “shows without doubt that the new road and the planned
interchange are closer to the top of the hill than the existing road”.

Noting that the Gabhra river runs beside the N3, it said that the
motorway would drive over it.

Gabhra means “white mare”, and horses are associated with the kingship
of Tara. Horse bones were found on the hill.

The valley was associated with the deaths of the Fianna. “Here is the
site of the Battle of Gabhra, where the King of Tara battled with the
Fianna and both he an the famous champion Oscar were killed along with
many others,” the statement said.

“Rath Lugh contains the name of the old Irish god Lugh, who took over
his kingship on the top of the Hill of Tara and is celebrated in the
Festival of Lúnasa. It was one of the outer defensive forts of Tara,
and the present route will cut it away from its natural centre. This
extraordinary rath would then sit at the edge of a motorway, completely
out of context.”

The statement said that three Tara experts had warned of this “rather
ignominious end for a once proud and important monument”. In a paper in
2004, Joe Fenwick, Conor Newman and Edel Bhreathnach said that the M3
would “destroy the spatial and visual integrity of the archaeological
and historical landscape of Tara as well as removing from it key
component monuments”.

visit tarawatch.org

Protesters bring temporary halt to work on new M3 motorway
Fiona Gartland

Irish Times
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Preparatory work for the new M3 motorway from Clonee to Kells in Co
Meath was temporarily disrupted yesterday when Save Tara campaigners
held a protest against the controversial road.

A handful of protesters entered a site at Baronstown, near
Dunshaughlin, where scrub, trees and soil were being removed. They sat
in front of machinery that was being used to move the scrub. They also
sat in the buckets of earth-moving equipment to prevent them from being
used.

Work on the site was halted and workers vacated the area in advance of
an inspection by health and safety consultants.

The action marked the beginning of a campaign against preparatory tree
felling along the route of the M3, including near national monument
Rath Lugh, the site of a promontory fort in the Tara-Skryne Valley and
at Ardsallagh, where a large number of trees have been removed.

Protesters argued that work other than archaeological excavation should
not be taking place before an oral hearing on the National Roads
Authority (NRA) draft tolling scheme for the motorway takes place later
this month and before contracts have been signed with Eurolink, who are
the preferred bidder for the project.

Eric Burke, a protester who lives close to Ardsallagh and whose garden
is included in a compulsory purchase order for the road, said the tree
felling began just before Christmas.

“They did not give us notice the trees would be coming down, they just
came in and did it,” he said.

“They haven’t finalised the tolling scheme yet, so why have they
started this?”

Local Sinn Féin councillor Joe Reilly has called for work on the route
of the M3 to cease as the public-private partnership contract has not
yet been signed.

However, a spokesman for the NRA said the preparatory work was not part
of the main contract to build the M3 but was being done ahead of the
site transfer and was being carried out by a firm sub-contracted to
Meath County Council.

He also said the draft tolling scheme was a separate issue from the
construction of the motorway and the motorway could still go ahead
regardless of the outcome of the oral hearing.

“The gap can be filled in other ways,” he said.

On yesterday’s protest, the spokesman said the contractor had taken
appropriate measures.

“There was no need to cause controversy, the decision was to make sure
no one was put in harm’s way, even if they were willing to put
themselves in harm’s way. The mature stance was not to engage and to
move to work elsewhere,” he said.

“That is what the contractor did. A health and safety consultant was
called in and the gardaí were informed of the situation, but because it
did not escalate they did not need to come out.”

10:28 Wednesday January 3rd 2007
unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=9&si=103913

Opponents of the new M3 motorway in Co Meath have mounted a demonstration in the Tara-Skryne valley today to protest at the felling of trees along the route of the proposed road.

The protestors are accusing the National Roads Authority of tearing down mature trees at several sites on the route, including the historic Rath Lugh area.

The National Roads Authority has defended the work, saying it is part of normal preparations for the motorway project.

The authority also says it is currently the best time of year to carry out the work without disturbing the local wildlife.

M3 go-ahead as objector drops case

Meath Chronicle
Sat, Oct 07 06

NRA looks to June 2007 start to biggest ever road project

Paul Murphy

THE ‘Battle of Tara’ is over.

The last legal obstacle to the long-delayed M3 motorway has been removed and work on the project will start in June of next year following an agreement by an environmental campaigner to end a legal action blocking the road’s construction.

The news got a warm welcome across the political spectrum yesterday (Tuesday) and was described as a major boost to the creation of infrastructure in the county which would draw inward investment.

Mr Salafia’s retreat from legal action – signalled in the Meath Chronicle last week – had been rumoured in the past 10 days. He said on Tuesday that he was pleased to announce that a settlement had been reached before the Supreme Court in his case against the Minister for the Environment, the Attorney General, Meath County Council and the NRA regarding the excavation and planned construction of the M3 “through the Hill of Tara archaeological complex.”

He said he had accepted an offer from the other parties to settle the proceedings after advice from his lawyers that it was in the best interests of the campaign to preserve the integrity of the Tara complex.

In the agreement, he has agreed to withdraw his Supreme Court appeal in return for their pledge not to pursue him personally for costs, estimated to be s600,000.

Ominously, Mr Salafia said that the path was now clear for fresh legal challenges to the M3 at Tara by independent third parties, “one of which is understood to be under way.” However, the NRA said this week that it knew nothing of any further legal actions against the project.

Mr Salafia had taken a judicial review of the 2005 decision of the Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and was granted leave by Justice Peart in July last year.

The hearing had been postponed by the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Joe Finnegan, in anticipation of the then pending Supreme Court ruling in the Carrickmines Castle/M50 case. The hearing went ahead in January 2005 after the Carrickmines had been postponed for a third time.

He said that the best result campaigners could have hoped for in the Supreme Court was a rehearing in the High Court, followed by another Supreme Court appeal. The substance of his case would now be brought directly to the Environment Directorate of the European Union and he was petitioning the EU to take legal action directly against Ireland for breaches of EU law.

The total length of the N3 from Clonee to north of Kells swill be around 60km and cover 700 hectares of land. It will be by far the biggest ever road project ever undertaken in the county. The scheme includes 60km of mainline and 50km of ancillary and access roads. The NRA said that some archaeological work had been undertaken but other major excavation would now take place in preparation for the start-up of the project “post-May 2007.”

The removal of legal blockages to the construction of the M3 got a warm reception across the political spectrum.

The Mayor of Navan, Colr Tommy Reilly, said that the news that the way was now open for the building of the M3 was “brilliant.”

He added: “It is long overdue and just what we need to bring business in County Meath. It should be a major boost in bringing industry in. It will also help us to service properly the needs of people who have come to live in the county.”

He said that it was imperative that all interests in the county would now push for the railway line. This was a vital link in creating the infrastructure which would ensure that Meath was able to avail of inward investment.

Meath East Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee also welcomed the go ahead. “I am very pleased that work will shortly start on the construction of the M3 motorway. It will be welcome news to the thousands of harassed commuters who use the existing road to get to and from work and college in Dublin.”

Many people had heartfelt views concerning the possible impact of the project on the historic area around the Hill of Tara, he said. “The experience of archaeologists should, I believe, be available during the project to advise the contractors who will construct the motorway.”

North Meath TD Johnny Brady has welcomed the news. He said: “I welcome very much that Mr Salafia has withdrawn his objection and that common sense has prevailed at long last. This has been a long drawn out battle. It has gone through one of the longest oral hearings in the history of the State. It went through the planning process in Bord Pleanala, it went through the High Court and was now in the Supreme Court.

“I welcome the decision of Mr Salafia to withdraw his objection and this leaves the way open for construction to start and we will hopefully see the construction under way in the very near future.”

Colr Brian Fitzgerald, welcoming the ending of legal process, said that, for too long, the development of the county had been held up. He hoped that a number of projects which had been in the pipeline, and were delayed because of legal action against the proposed M3, would now go ahead.

It was now time for interests in the county to make sure that the reopening of rail links in the county should proceed hand-in-hand with the construction of the motorway.

PRESS STATEMENT

3 October 2006

Settlement of the Hill of Tara / M3 case

Today I am pleased to announce that a settlement has been formalised before the Supreme Court in my case against the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government; The Attorney General; Meath County Council; and the National Roads Authority, regarding the excavation and planned construction of the M3 motorway through the Hill of Tara archaeological complex.

I have accepted an offer from the Defendants to settle these particular proceedings after receiving legal advice from my Senior Counsel, Mr Ger Hogan SC, and Mr Frank Callanan SC, that it was in the best interests the campaign to preserve the integrity of the Tara complex. Thus, I have withdrawn my Supreme Court appeal in return for their agreement not to pursue me personally for costs, estimated in the region of 600,000 euros. The path is now clear for fresh legal challenges to the M3 at Tara by independent third parties, one of which is understood to be under way.

I took judicial review of the May 2005 decision of the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, within the 8 week time limit, and was granted leave by Justice Peart in July 2005. But the hearing was postponed by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, in anticipation of the then pending Supreme Court ruling in the Carrickmines Castle / M50 case. Finally, the hearing went ahead regardless in January 2006, after the Carrickmines ruling was postponed for a third time.

From the very first day of trial my case sank into a procedural quagmire, when Mr Justice Tom Smyth refused to accept affidavits and threw them back over the bench at us. The case then unravelled when he refused our motion for oral cross-examination of witnesses, and critical evidence, was excluded. The excluded evidence went to the heart of the case, and we were unable to legally prove that new national monuments had been discovered.

Expert evidence from Discovery Programme Experts, Conor Newman, Joe Fenwick and Edel Bhreatnach, alleged that many of the newly discovered 38 sites between Navan and Dunshaughin are national monuments because they lie within the Tara complex. In addition, they alleged that 2 particular monuments, at Baronstown and Collierstown in the Tara/Skryne valley, are national monuments in their own right. However, at the commencement of proceedings they decided not to support an application for an injunction, but rather let the matter go directly to full hearing on the merits, in order not to hold up the M3 unnecessarily.

With these national monuments now under imminent threat of demolition, and excavations due to end in early 2007, time is of the essence. The best result we could have hoped for in the Supreme Court in my case was a rehearing in the High Court, followed by another Supreme Court appeal. However, any new Plaintiff would be able to make an application for an injunction immediately.

The substance of my case will now be brought directly to the Environment Directorate of the European Union and I am petitioning the EU to take legal action directly against Ireland for breaches of EU law. The evidence will show how the NRA has systematically underplayed the extent and significance of the Tara archaeological complex, in light of the fact that the Environmental Impact Assessment only identified 5 out of 38 sites.

The campaign will cotinue in earnest and I will remain Legal Affairs spokesperson for TaraWatch and continue to seek a political solution, as well as a legal solution, in light of the upcoming General Election and the fact that 70% of voters surveyed last year wanted the M3 rerouted.

TaraWatch has recently been contacted by the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting endangered ancient and historic sites around the world. They want us to make a submission with a view to putting the Tara complex on the list of World’s 100 Most Endangered Sites list. We are also in direct contact with Europa Nostra, the administrators of European Heritage Week, who are considering launching an investigation into the Tara affair.

TaraWatch will also participate in a series of public demonstrations, the first of which will be held in Navan on Saturday, 4th November, starting at 3pm. We are also producing an album with bands like The Waterboys, Paddy Casey and Kila having offered songs.

On a personal level, I took this case because I truly believe the current M3 plan to be illegal, immoral and unethical and I still hold that view. The route of the M3 is ‘the fruit of the poisonous tree’, to use a legal expression. The roots of that tree are deeply embedded in Leinster House, where later today the Irish people will be officially informed, in essence, that black is in fact white.

The branches of this ‘tree’ extend well into County Meath, where recent by-election campaign saw the withdrawal of the Fianna Fail candidate after it was disclosed that he co-owned land with Frank Dunlop outside Dunshaughlin, not far from the M3. This was the same candidate that informed RTE’s Prime Time that nothing had been discovered by the NRA at Tara except “pots and pans”. An article in Ireland on Sunday called ‘Tara Tycoons’, (10-09-05) shows how major Fianna Fail contributors stand to make millions from developing lands in and around the 50 acre junction planned for Blundelstown, 1,000 metres from the crest of the Hill of Tara.

Recently, the NRA and indeed the Taoiseach have followed this lead and falsely and maliciously alleged that my case has cost the taxpayer 70 to 150 million euros in delays, as well as the lives of accident victims who had to drive on the old road. The obvious truth is that my case has caused no delay in the M3, as excavations are not even due to end until early 2007. There has been no delay in construction and no injunction in place, by my own design.

Finally, I did ask that this matter be handed over to binding arbitration, which would entail an independent third party assessment by a mutually acceptable qualified archaeological consultancy company.
All legal consequences would flow from the determination of the core issues of law and fact: (a) Does the M3 pass through the national monument of Tara? and (b) Have new national monuments been discovered?
This would be quickest and most effective means of bringing finality to the issue and certainty to the M3 project. The authorities rejected this proposal, which means that fresh legal proceedings are likely, along with a dramatic escalation of protests.

There are many other problems with the M3, besides the purely heritage issues. The current route is a waste of taxpayers money because it actually veers 3.5 km off path between Navan and Dunshaughlin to go through the Tara complex, and crosses the N3 in two places within 8 miles, where there is no population density. If it were to go 3.5 km westwards instead it would not need any N3 crossovers and would service Trim, as well as saving approximately 50 million euros.

While TaraWatch is mainly concerned with saving Tara and is not an anti-motorway lobby, we do note that the Al Gore film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ shows that global warming is happening much faster than we imagined and that drastic measures are necessary to reverse the trend.
The M3 represents 1970’s technology in terms of fuel efficiency. Even the NRA itself is touting 2+1 schemes as much better options in terms of safety and efficiency per taxpayer euro. Meanwhile, there is no sign of the Navan to Dublin railway being opened, giving commuters an opportunity to get out of their cars and avoid the inevitable traffic jam at Blanchardstown, which will happen even if the M3 is built as planned.

Sooner or later this Government, or the next, must accept the inconvenient truth that the approval of the M3 route is one of the worst ever planning decisions in Ireland, and that it must be revisited in light of current knowledge and common sense.

ENDS

Vincent Salafia

Protestors who have been camping on the Hill of Tara since the Summer Solstice on June 21, have been ordered to leave by the Office of Public Works (OPW), according to protest group TaraWatch.

From BreakingNews.ie
breakingnews.ie/2006/07/14/story267769.html

PRESS RELEASE

TaraWatch

29 June 2006

‘Chief Justice Postpones Setting Hearing Date for Hill of Tara M3 Case‘

The setting of a hearing date in the Hill of Tara / M3 motorway case was postponed today by the Chief Justice, the Hon. Mr. Justice John Murray. He said he will set a hearing date after written submissions were received by The Attorney General, The Minister for the Environment, Meath County Council, and the National Roads Authority, due on 24th July.

Gerard Hogan, SC, Counsel for the Appellant, Mr. Vincent Salafia, asked for an early hearing date to be set, since he had given undertakings in the High Court that he would do so.

Chief Justice Murray questioned whether there was any urgency in the case, since there is no injunction in place and no stoppage of works.

Counsel for Meath County Council argued that there as a “considerable shadow” hanging over the project in relation to the public private partnership contract, which cannot be signed until the matter is through the courts.

This morning Chief Justice Murray also set a date of July 28th for
delivery of judgment in the Carrickmines Castle case, which has been postponed a number of times already. The judgment in this case will have a significant impact on the Tara proceedings, since it will address whether or not there is a constitutional duty on the Government to protect the national heritage. Justice Laffoy had stated in her High Court opinion that there was in fact a “constitutional imperative” to protect these assets.

ENDS

PRESS RELEASE

TaraWatch

29 June 2006

‘Early Supreme Court Hearing Date Sought in Hill of Tara / M3
Motorway Case‘

The first appearance before the Supreme Court for the Hill of Tara / M3
motorway case will take place Thursday, 29th June, at 11.00AM.

The case of Vincent Salafia -v- Minister for the Environment, Heritage
and Local Government; The Attorney General; Meath County Council and
the National Roads Authority is being appealed from the High Court
decision of Mr Justice Thomas Smyth, wherein he denied relief to Mr.
Salafia in March 2006.

Mr Salafia is judicially reviewing the Directions given my Minister
Dick Roche in May 2005, under the National Monuments Act 2004, in
relation to excavation and demolition of 38 archaeological sites, along
one of five sections of the M3, between Navan and Dunshaughlin.

Mr Salafia is claiming that the Directions, along with the Act, are
unconstitutional and that the M3 motorway passes through the Tara
national monument, as well as associated national monuments.

Counsel for the Petitioner, Mr. Salafia; Gerard Hogan, SC; Frank
Callanan, SC; and Colm MacEochaidh, BL, will be seeking an early
hearing in the case.

Mr Salafia said:

“There has been no delay in the M3 caused by this case, as
archaeological works are proceeding as planned and are due to be
completed in early 2007.

“We are anxious to have the legality of the works determined as quickly
as possible, so as to avoid any unnecessary delays or costs.”

From an article in the Meath Chronicle by John Donohoe, published Saturday April 22nd 2006 -

Vincent Salafia, who lost the recent High Court case against the M3 motorway, is today (Wednesday) giving Notice of Appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court.

Notice will be officially given by Mr Salafia to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Meath County Council; the Attorney General and the National Roads Authority, who were all parties to the case.

The challenge by Mr Salafia to the proposed route of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara was dismissed on all grounds by the High Court in March. Mr Justice Thomas Smyth ruled Mr Salafia was not entitled to succeed in any of his claims because of an unjustified two-year delay in bringing them. He considered all the arguments made by Mr Salafia, including claims that certain provisions of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 were unconstitutional, and rejected all of those.

The judge ruled the legislature is entitled to regulate land and road developments in the interests of the common good, even where that involves interference with property rights and national monuments.

The Act had introduced changes in relation to how national monument protections were controlled, the legislature was entitled to choose to give qualified protection to national monuments and the court could not strike down section 14 of the Act, as sought by Mr Salafia, simply because a different or better balance could have been struck, he said.

Mr Salafia had asked the court to make a declaration that the greater Tara landscape – the Hill of Tara/Skryne Valley – is a national monument or a complex or series of national monuments within the meaning of the National Monuments Act, but the judge declined to do so. Mr Justice Smyth said there were differences between Mr Salafia and between Mr Salafia’s experts as to what constituted the core Tara area.

In those circumstances and in the absence of any representation in the proceedings for people in the Tara area who would be directly affected by such a declaration, it was not permissible for the court to make any such declaration.

Among other key findings of Mr Justice Smyth was that even if the Supreme Court upheld arguments in its forthcoming judgment on the Carrickmines Castle case that Section 8 of the National Monuments Amendment Act was unconstitutional, he was satisfied that protections for national monuments, which he held were built in to Section 14 of the same Act, were “constitutionally sound”.

Meanwhile, TaraWatch, a group supporting Mr Salafia’s case, says it will continue to lobby the Government to halt work in the Tara Skryne Valley on all archaeological sites. While TaraWatch maintains that all monuments in the valley are part of the national monument of Tara, by association, two newly discovered monuments at Collierstown and Baronstown are discrete national monuments in their own right, and should be protected.

The NRA archaeologist, Mary Deevy, points out that these sites have not been fully excavated yet, and were included in the report furnished to Minister Dick Roche prior to his decision on excavations along the route. They are known about since 2004.

Preliminary topsoil testing and removal was carried out on the sites which are possible prehistoric or early medieval. The Baronstown site is a large ditched enclosure complex which was a possible ritual enclosure or settlement complex, while the Collierstown site, a single pit with an intact pot, was a burial site.

Tarawatch – Thursday, April 20th 2006

Campaigners battling to re-route the controversial M3 motorway away from the Hill of Tara yesterday served Environment Minister Dick Roche with notice of a Supreme Court challenge to the project.

Lawyer Vincent Salafia revealed he was appealing a High Court ruling clearing the way for the divisive road which snakes its way through the ancient capital of Ireland’s kings.

But he said with a general election due next year he was still hopeful the Government would try to appease voters by doing a U-turn on the project.

“While the case is proceeding logically to the Supreme Court, and Europe if necessary, we are still hoping for a political decision by the authorities to review the situation and consider re-routing the Tara section of motorway,” he said.

“With an election coming up, the Government is acutely aware that 70pc of people surveyed nationally in 2005 said they wanted the motorway rerouted away from Tara.

“The M3 actually goes over 3km off course to the east, to split the Tara valley, which has few inhabitants. If it went the same distance in the opposite direction it would service Trim and save Tara.”

Mr Salafia lost his High Court challenge to the M3 last May. He claimed the National Monuments Act 2004 was unconstitutional, because it did not pass the test laid out by Justice Laffoy in the M50/Carrickmines Castle case.

In that hearing she recognised the constitutional imperative on the Stateto protect the nationalheritage.

Ultimately campaigners believe the case will go to the European Courts with Strasbourg judges asked to rule on the route on the basis that Tara is part of European heritage, not just Irish.

groups.yahoo.com/group/hilloftara/message/663

From an article by Mary Carolan, published by the Irish Times on Thursday, March 16th 2006 -

Environmentalist Vincent Salafia was ordered by the High Court yesterday to pay a legal costs bill, which could exceed €600,000, arising from his unsuccessful challenge to the proposed routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

However, Mr Salafia is appealing to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s rejection of his case earlier this month and his lawyers are expected to ask the Supreme Court to put a stay on payment of the costs pending the outcome of the appeal.

Mr Justice Thomas Smyth yesterday rejected arguments on behalf of Mr Salafia, of Dodder Vale, Churchtown, that he should be given the costs of his proceedings and instead directed that Mr Salafia pay the costs incurred by the State, Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority in opposing his case.

The judge said it was his view that Mr Salafia had acted out of “a personal dislike” of the proposed M3 route and there were no special circumstances in the case that would justify awarding costs to him.

While Mr Salafia was entitled to espouse a career regarding the environment or as a “professional objector”, public funds should not be spent on a case aimed at rerouting a road to protect the sources of Mr Salafia’s study interest, which were not national monuments, the judge said.

He awarded costs of the respondents against Mr Salafia and refused an application by Mr Colm MacEochaidh, for Mr Salafia, to put a stay on the costs order in the event of an appeal. A stay was a matter for the Supreme Court, he said.

Afterwards, Mr Salafia said that while his action was taken on an individual basis, he had the support of many people in Ireland and internationally. He said national monuments have been discovered at Tara and work there should cease immediately. “The Irish people’s greatest treasures continue to be pilfered.”

Mr Salafia had initiated proceedings in 2005 challenging ministerial directions relating to the treatment of archaeological works on the M3 route. An Bord Pleanála had granted permission for the road scheme in late 2003 and the High Court had said Mr Salafia should have initiated his challenge then.

Mr Salafia had argued he was involved at that time in the campaign to save Carrickmines Castle and believed there would be no interference with national monuments at Tara because of legislation then in force.

It was argued he could not be expected to know the Government would in 2004 introduce the National Monuments Amendment Act which, Mr Salafia claimed, removed the existing protections for national monuments.

In his judgment of March 1st dismissing Mr Salafia’s challenge, Mr Justice Smyth found the delay in bringing the case disentitled Mr Salafia to any of the reliefs he had sought. The judge also found Mr Salafia did not have the necessary legal standing to bring his case and rejected claims that the disputed provisions of the 2004 Act were unconstitutional.

Ruling on costs yesterday, the judge said Mr Salafia had given an “unconvincing” explanation for not bringing his case earlier and he had substantially lost on all the issues raised. The litigation had cost time, money and effort and the costs should not come out of the public purse, the judge added.

On complaints by Mr Salafia that his case suffered because of the ruling against hearing oral evidence from archaeologists and experts, the judge said there was never any assurance that such oral evidence would be heard. It was not the fault of the respondents that Mr Salafia’s case did “not live up to its billing”, he said.

Save Tara!

From an article published by the Irish Times on Thursday, March 2nd 2006 -

The battle for Tara is not over yet, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

The odds were stacked against anyone succeeding in a legal action against the M3. So it is not surprising that the High Court has found in favour of Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and his “directions” allowing this controversial motorway to snake past the Hill of Tara.

The 2004 National Monuments (Amendment) Act rewrote heritage protection legislation in such a drastic manner that the Minister was given sole discretion in deciding whether any archaeological site is a national monument and what to do with it – including authorising its demolition.

That was Martin Cullen’s contribution to the statute books following the row over Carrickmines Castle in south Co Dublin, when archaeologists and conservationists were blamed for holding up completion of the M50. The Government was determined this wouldn’t happen again. However, the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the final appeal in the Carrickmines case by Dominic Dunne and, in particular, on his challenge to the constitutionality of the 1994 legislation.

The court’s tardiness – it recently deferred its decision for the fourth time – may have proved fatal for the Tara case.

Mr Justice Thomas Smyth referred to the appeal before the Supreme Court in his lengthy judgment yesterday. But its tone and content suggests that he would have ruled against plaintiff Vincent Salafia anyway, on other grounds – including his delay in taking the action in the first place.

Mr Justice Smyth had ruled that it was not necessary to call expert witnesses and have them cross-examined. This hampered the plaintiff because it meant that the court did not hear from, for example, Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland.

Dr Wallace made it clear to Mr Roche last April that he opposed routing the M3 through the Tara valley, arguing that it is an archaeological landscape that deserves to be protected. He was particularly critical of the Blundelstown interchange, just 1.2 kilometres north of the ancient capital of Ireland’s kings.

It might also have been instructive to hear oral evidence from the Government’s Chief Archaeologist, Brian Duffy, who backed the National Roads Authority and Meath County Council, even to the extent of suggesting that the M3 motorway itself would become part of Tara’s legacy in the years to come.

His perverse view was strongly opposed in affidavits by three leading experts on Tara – Dr Edel Bhreathnach, Dr Conor Newman and Joe Fenwick – who argued that Tara must be seen as part of a much wider archaeological landscape which would be irreparably damaged by a motorway running right through it. Mr Roche could have decided that the NRA and Meath County Council would have to go back to the drawing boards and devise an alternative route. Instead, he chose to issue “directions” on how the 38 Archaeological sites along the existing route should be treated.

The “directions” he issued on May 11th last were carefully crafted to suggest that the interests of Ireland’s heritage were being looked after, thereby (hopefully) fire-proofing his decision against legal challenge. However, in the absence of a Supreme Court ruling on the Carrickmines appeal and the thorny issue of whether the 2004 National Monuments (Amendment) Act fulfils the onus on the State to protect our heritage, this confidence may be misplaced. The battle, in other words, is not yet over.

Even if the Supreme Court was to rule that the 2004 legislation is constitutional and subsequently rejected an appeal by Mr Salafia against yesterday’s High Court judgment, the European Court of Justice may take a different view, on the basis that Tara is part of Europe’s heritage too.

Save Tara!

Challenge to M3 route near Hill of Tara rejected
Mary Carolan

The Irish Times
Thu, Mar 02, 06

A challenge by environmentalist Vincent Salafia to the proposed route of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara has been dismissed on all grounds by the High Court.

Mr Justice Thomas Smyth ruled Mr Salafia was not entitled to succeed in any of his claims because of an unjustified two-year delay in bringing them. He considered all the arguments made by Mr Salafia, including claims that certain provisions of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 were unconstitutional, and rejected all of those.

The judge ruled the legislature is entitled to regulate land and road
developments in the interests of the common good, even where that involves interference with property rights and national monuments.

The Act had introduced changes in relation to how national monument protections were controlled, the legislature was entitled to choose to give qualified protection to national monuments and the court could not strike down section 14 of the Act, as sought by Mr Salafia, simply because a different or better balance could have been struck, he said.

Mr Salafia had also asked the court to make a declaration that the
greater Tara landscape – the Hill of Tara/Skryne Valley – is a national monument or a complex or series of national monuments within the meaning of the National Monuments Act but the judge declined to do so.

Mr Justice Smyth said there were differences between Mr Salafia and between Mr Salafia’s experts as to what constituted the core Tara area.

In those circumstances and in the absence of any representation in the proceedings for people in the Tara area who would be directly affected by such a declaration, it was not permissible for the court to make any such declaration.

Among other key findings of Mr Justice Smyth was that even if the
Supreme Court upheld arguments in its forthcoming judgment on the Carrickmines Castle case that section 8 of the National Monuments Amendment Act was unconstitutional, he was satisfied that protections for national monuments, which he held were built in to section 14 of the same Act, were “constitutionally sound”.

He adjourned the case to March 14th when he is expected to rule on the issue of the costs of the proceedings, which ran for seven hearing days.

Mr Salafia, Dodder Vale, Churchtown, Dublin, had sought to overturn directions given by the Minister for the Environment in July 2005 regarding the carrying out of archaeological works on the site of the M3. He also challenged the constitutionality of section 14 of the 2004 Act on the grounds it gave the Minister an unreviewable and unfettered discretion to remove protections for national monuments.

The judge found the Minister had properly and lawfully issued his
directions, which related to an “approved” road development, under the correct section of the National Monuments Act – section 14.A.2.

There was no objection to the content of the directions.

The minister was not obliged to give directions which would modify the M3 route in any material way and had carefully considered material from Meath County Council regarding 38 archaeological discoveries made during test trenching of the M3 route, he said. The Minister had also considered detailed advice from the director of the National Museum.

He rejected Mr Salafia’s argument that the directions should have been issued under section 14.A.4 of the Act.

The Minister was required to issue directions under section 14.A.4 only if a national monument had been discovered during the road project and no such discovery had been made, he said. None of Mr Salafia’s experts had made claims to that effect.

He dismissed the claim that section 14.A.4 was unconstitutional because it gave the Minister an unfettered discretion to permit interference with national monuments and failed to set out principles and policies to govern that discretion. He said principles and policies were set out in the National Monuments Acts.

Earlier, Mr Justice Smyth said there was an obligation to bring
judicial review challenges promptly.

=====

An unexpected comment in the Sunday World, written by Paddy Murray –

There will have been, I don’t doubt, unbridled joy in the Department of the environment – an Orwellian name if ever there was one – at the news the vandalising of Tara, is actually, legal. It quite simply beggars belief that we are to preserve a nondescript building on Moore Street because Pádraig Pearse and some of the other 1916 leaders spent, at most, a couple of days there while at the same time we bulldoze through the part of the country that was, without argument, the cradle of our identity for thousands of years.

What a pity Pádraig Pearse never stopped in the Tara Skryne Valley to have a slash against a tree. If he had, Bertie and rest of the increasingly green Fianna Failers – with Dick Roche on their coattails – would be damning those calling for the destruction of an area of such national importance.

Sadly, though, the country is in the hands of Philistines – it is run by people who give the appearance of never having read a book, at least not one without a pictures in it. It is administered by those for whom profit is everything and culture is nothing. I hope they call it the Dick Roche motorway – future generations are entitled to know who vandalised our history.

Ruling due in March on M3 case
Mary Carolan

Irish Times
Wed, Jan 25, 06

The High Court will give its decision on March 1st on the challenge by
an environmentalist to the proposed route of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

After Mr Justice Thomas Smyth yesterday ruled that he did not require to hear oral evidence by archaeologists and other experts in order to determine legal issues in the case, the seven-day hearing concluded.

Counsel for Vincent Salafia had earlier argued that there were factual disputes in the case, particularly relating to whether the greater Tara area in itself constituted a national monument.

It was submitted that the court should hear oral evidence from experts on such matters and determine whether the greater Tara landscape was a national monument.

However, lawyers for the Minister for the Environment, the State, Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority argued that oral evidence was not necessary to determine the legal issues.

They submitted that none of Mr Salafia’s experts had sworn on affidavit that any of 38 sites discovered during test trenching of the proposed M3 route constituted national monuments.

After hearing both sides, the judge said he had to ask himself whether oral evidence and cross-examination of experts would assist him in the determination of the identified issues in the case. The answer to that had to be no, he said.

While there were conflicting views and opinions by highly- qualified
experts on both sides, those views were not focused on any issue which he must determine, he ruled.

These matters of opinion regarding the archaeological landscape,
culture and heritage of the Tara area were extremely interesting, but
he had to keep firmly focused on the issues.

He did not see that his decision not to permit oral evidence deprived
Mr Salafia of any benefit in the case, the judge added.

Earlier, in closing arguments on behalf of Mr Salafia, Frank Callanan
SC said the role of archaeological and other experts, including the
director of the National Museum, had been “considerably diluted” under new laws enacted to deal with the discovery of national monuments during construction of a motorway.

The State had effectively argued in this case that it had no
substantive obligation regarding conservation of the national heritage, he said.

===

Court sets date in March for Tara motorway route decision

Irish Independent
Wed, Jan 25 06

Ann O’Loughlin

THE High Court will give its decision in March on the challenge by an
environmentalist to the proposed routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

After Mr Justice Thomas Smyth yesterday ruled that he did not require to hear oral evidence by archaeologists and other experts to determine legal issues in the case, the seven-day hearing concluded and the judge said he would deliver judgment on March 1.

Counsel for Vincent Salafia had earlier argued that there were factual disputes in the case, particularly relating to whether the greater Tara area constitutes a national monument. It was submitted that the court should hear oral evidence from experts on such matters and determine whether the greater Tara landscape is a national monument.

However, lawyers for the Minister for the Environment, the State, Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority argued that oral evidence was not necessary to determine the legal issues and submitted none of Mr Salafia’s experts had sworn on affidavit that any of 38 sites discovered during test trenching of the proposed M3 route constituted national monuments.

After hearing both sides, the judge said he had to ask himself whether oral evidence and cross-examination of experts would assist him in the determination of the identified issues in the case. The answer to that had to be no.

Opinions

While there were conflicting views and opinions by highly-qualified
experts on both sides, those views were not focussed on any issue which he must determine, he ruled. These matters of opinion regarding the archaeological landscape, culture and heritage of the Tara area were extremely interesting but he had to keep firmly focused on the issues.

He did not see that his decision not to permit oral evidence deprived
Mr Salafia of any benefit in the case, the judge added.

Mr Salafia, of Dodder Vale, Churchtown, Dublin, is seeking to overturn the directions given by the Minister and is also challenging the constitutionality of provisions of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 on the grounds that they give the Minister an unreviewable and unfettered discretion todisapply protections for national monuments.

hilloftara.blogspot.com/

Seat of Celtic kings is threatened by motorway
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
(Filed: 13/01/2006)

A plan to build a motorway beside the hill where ancient Celtic kings were crowned has been challenged in court as campaigners fight to save a monument described by W B Yeats as the “most consecrated spot in Ireland”.

The Irish government’s proposal to build a new commuter route for Dublin through the valley containing the Hill of Tara has infuriated archaeologists, historians and conservationists.

Map

The battle, which has been depicted as a conflict between Ireland’s mystical past and the materialistic modern nation of the Celtic Tiger, yesterday came to the High Court in Dublin.

The hearing, which is scheduled to last for five days, is the culmination of a two-year campaign to stop the 30-mile M3 motorway passing less than a mile from the coronation site of around 100 Irish High Kings in Co Meath.

Dublin’s decision to press ahead with the road was challenged by Vincent Salafia, an environmentalist, who has argued that Dick Roche, the environment minister, should not have granted the motorway permission.

Gerry Hogan, senior counsel for Mr Salafia, claimed the legislation used to push through the project was unconstitutional.

He said the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 weakened the role of the Oireachtas (Ireland’s national parliament) by giving the minister discretionary powers to determine the fate of the country’s heritage. Mr Hogan claimed the state’s duty to protect monuments had been “seriously compromised”.

Under the terms of the Act, Mr Roche is able to decide whether to preserve a site on the basis of the public interest as well as archaeological considerations.

According to Pat Wallace, the director of the National Museum of Ireland, the Hill of Tara is one Ireland’s most important treasures.

Mr Hogan told the court that 38 archaeological sites had been identified along the M3’s route.

Tara’s importance as a religious centre dates from around 4,000 BC. The oldest visible man-made feature is the Mound of the Hostages, which dates from the third millennium BC.

It is associated with Cormac Mac Art, the legendary Irish High King. Tara became a pagan spiritual and political centre in the third century AD. It has remained a potent symbol of Ireland’s nationhood.

During the rebellion of 1798 the United Irishmen camped on the hill, but were attacked and defeated by British troops.

In 1843, Daniel O’Connell, the Irish MP, hosted a peaceful Home Rule political demonstration at Tara that is reputed to have attracted one million supporters.

The application for judicial review is being heard before Mr Justice Thomas Smyth. The environment minister, Meath county council, the National Roads Authority and the attorney-general dispute Mr Hogan’s assertion that a wider zone around the hill should be considered part of the existing national monument.

The hearing continues.

telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/13/wtara13.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/13/ixworld.html

hilloftara.blogspot.com/

Serious questions have reportedly emerged about the qualifications of the Government’s chief archaeologist.

Reports this morning said Brian Duffy, who advised the Government on matters such as the controversial Tara motorway scheme, got the job in July 2003 ahead of candidates with superior qualifications and experience.

The reports said Mr Duffy had a general BA degree in archaeology and had no track record of archaeological excavations or publications.

The latest revelation follows the recent controversy surrounding the Government’s chief science adviser, who was moved to another job when it emerged that he received his PhD from a US university known to sell such qualifications over the internet.

irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=190268270&p=y9xz69x85&n=190269156

Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent

Irish Times
Wed, Aug 10, 05

A consortium involving Spanish construction firm Cintra and the Irish group SIAC is now in prime position to build the €600 million M3 motorway between Clonee and Kells, the controversial project that runs through the Tara archaeological complex.

While the route chosen by the National Roads Authority will be the subject of judicial review hearings before the High Court in October, the Eurolink consortium formed by the two companies has emerged in first place from the initial phase of the tender process.

Their success in this competition marks a second coup for the group, which is already building the multimillion euro Kilcock-Kinnegad motorway. The M3 contract will be by far the largest public-private partnership initiative undertaken to date. The 110 km project includes almost 50 km of motorway.

The consortium will be expected to fund the building of the roadway and maintain and operate it for 45 years. While the terms of the Eurolink tender were not available last night, the consortium will receive tolls on the road and a State subsidy.

Eurolink is understood to have beaten off a rival tender from the Celtic Roads group. Its members include National Toll Roads, owner of the East Link and West Link bridges, the Ascon building group and Spanish construction giant Dragados.

“We have formally advised Eurolink that the company has been identified as the tenderer with the most economically advantageous tender for the M3 Clonee-Kells project,” said a spokesman for the National Roads Authority.

“The authority will now proceed with discussions with Eurolink with a view to appointing the company as provisional preferred tenderer, which potentially will lead to the award of the contract for the project.”

SIAC is understood to be raising its stake in Eurolink to 25 per cent for the M3 initiative.

Two court actions may have a bearing on the eventual route of the motorway.

The first of these is a judicial review action taken by conservationist Vincent Salafia, who is calling into question directions made by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche on the treatment of archaeological sites on the route.

Mr Salafia wants to test the constitutionality of Mr Roche’s decisions under the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 2004.

He claims it is not necessary for the motorway to breach the Tara complex and says an alternative route between Navan and Dunshaughlin offers an alternative because it is shorter and would not breach the complex.

A forthcoming Supreme Court judgment in a case testing the
constitutionality of the 2004 Act in the context of the Carrickmines stretch of M50 motorway may have a bearing on this case. In a judgment that was challenged on a point of law, the High Court previously upheld the constitutionality of the Act in this case.

See: Hill of Tara / M3 litigation site- hilloftara.info

Majority want M3 routed outside Tara, survey finds

Irish Times
Sat, Aug 20, 05

A national survey has found 70 per cent of participants want the M3 motorway rerouted away from the Hill of Tara. Fiona Gartland reports.

The telephone survey, by RedCResearch found seven out of 10 people wanted the M3 to go ahead but outside the Tara-Skryne Valley. A third of respondents said they believed the Government gave enough consideration to alternative solutions such as a Navan-Dublin rail link.

More than 1,000 adults responded to the survey carried out in May for Tarawatch, a campaigning group set up to resist Government plans to route the M3 through the Tara-Skryne Valley.

The group also brought forward an alternative route at a meeting yesterday. The route, “Blue 2”, chosen by the National Roads Authority and approved by An Bord Pleanála, passes east of the Hill of Tara and, according to Tarawatch, will destroy national monuments and valuable archaeology.

“Orange 1”, its suggested alternative, passes west of the hill and “saves the core monuments of Tara from destruction, and is up to 3.5km shorter than the current route, increasing profitability and efficiency dramatically”.

The group also held a protest at the M50 toll booth yesterday. Toll bridge operator National Toll Roads was named last week as the preferred bidder to build and operate booths on the M3.

Green Party deputy Ciarán Cuffe said a good case had been made for moving the road and he supported the campaign for an alternative route. Sinn Féin deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh also pledged his support.

Construction of the motorway depends on the outcome of court action in October.

Environmental activist Vincent Salafia was given leave by the High Court in July to bring proceedings to secure its rerouting. The action, against the Minister for the Environment, Meath County Council, the Attorney General and the National Roads Authority, will challenge directions given by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche regarding the treatment of 38 known archaeological sites along a stretch of the proposed motorway.

The result of October’s High Court case could also be significantly affected by a Supreme Court decision concerning the routing of the Southern Cross motorway near Carrickmines Castle.

An NRA spokesman said it had no doubt that most people supported the Bord Pleanála-approved route.

“We put a lot of time and effort into coming up with this route and the board approved it,” he said. “We are now anxious to get to the point where construction can start.”

===

Hill of Tara / M3 litigation site: hilloftara.info

The Tara SOS week programme of protests will be launched with a 1
hour protest commencing 10am at Dublin Castle on Saturday 03.09.05.
This protest will coincide with the Themed tour and readings
titled ‘The Irish Revolution (1913-23’ in Dublin Castle.

Later in the day at 1.30pm (September 3rd) a later protest will also
be held at the same venue to coincide with the O’Carolan harp recital
in Dublin Castle at 1.30 in the afternoon

New Placards, and leaflets covering Tara’s history, lore and heroes
will be launched. A strong turnout is essential.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 04.09.05

------------------

Dublin – Volunteers Needed

All Ireland Semi-final, meeting at 2pm at GPO – educational talk
about C€ ¦ú Chulainn Statue and Tara, etc at GPO followed by 1.5hrs
of
leafleting the 82,000 crowd at Croke Park

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Co. Meath – Volunteers Needed

Sunday, 04.09.05

All Day Protest in the Car park, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, Co. Meath
to coincide with the Free guided tours of Cairn T. Time: 10.00am –
5.00pm

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Co. Mayo – Volunteers Needed

Charlestown Town Hall Arts Centre, Barrack Street, Entrance to the
right of the Library entrance (same building) beneath Health Centre.
Photographic exhibition: `Portraits of an Irish Town’. Sunday
2.00 –
6.00pm
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Co. Cork – Volunteers Needed

Courtyard of Barryscourt Castle, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork. Re-
enactments of military life in Norman times. September 4th, all day.

Garinish Island, Glengarriff, Co Cork. Tour of Italian garden.
September 4th, 12.30pm.
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Co. Waterford – Volunteers Needed

Dungarvan Castle, Co Waterford, tours relating to the castle’s
history. September 4th, 12.30pm and 3pm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Co. Donegal – Volunteers Needed

International Clann tSuibhne (Sweeney clan) gathering, Letterkenny,
Co Donegal, September 4-10th.
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Co. Galway – Volunteers Needed

Connemara National Park visitor centre, Letterfrack, Co Galway.
Guided nature walk. September 5th, 10.30am.
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PRESS STATEMENT – TARAWATCH – 19TH AUGUST O4 – 4.30
PM

A new campaigning group – Tarawatch – has been formed. The
group sees it’s role as articulating the opinion of the 70% of the
irish population who are against the routing of the proposed M3
through the Tara Complex. The group is determined to keep the
issue at the forefront of public debate in the run-up to a high
court challenge to the Governments decision.

The group’s first public action took place today at the M50
tool-booth operated by National Toll Roads who are part of the
consortium most likely to build and collect tolls on the proposed
M3 for the next 25 years as part of a Private Public partnership
arrangement.

Leaflets were distributed at the action to motorists informing
them:

- that the Clonee to Kells motorway will have two toll booths for a 
initial contract period of 45 years
- that one toll booth will be located north and the other south of
the Hill of Tara
- that profits from these tolls will go to a private corporation and
not the exchequer
- that NTR has been selected as the preferred bidder on the M3
Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract
- that NTR are part of Eurolink, along with SISK and Cintra
Construction PLC (Spain).
- that the profit from their tolls will pay for destruction of Tara
- that a shorter cheaper route to the west of the tara complex is
available
- that commuting problems on the M50 are likely to get much
worse

A member of Tarawatch, Michael Canney said “The government
are attempting to frame the debate over the M3 in terms of
heritage and environmental campaigners VS the commuter and
motorist. We have set out today to convince motorists that the
length of commuting times is the real problem and that the lack
of public transport alternatives is contributing greatly to it. All of
this is a result of failed housing and transport strategies”. Mr.
Canney continued: “To add insult to injury, the long distance
commuter will now see their toll money, paid to NTR, used to
fund the M3. In effect their monies are going to be used by this
company to destroy the Tara complex”.

The new group sees itself as an extending and broadening the
already existing campaign against the plan to run the new M3
through the Tara-Skryne Valley. It intends to be action oriented
and will be launching a major website next week.

Another member of the group said: “The government have
overruled their own experts, ignored national and international
academic opinion and resisted and slandered those seeking to
challenge their actions through the courts. We are now
beginning to mobilise for the next stage of the campaign. We
represent the majority of public opinion on this issue and we will
not allow this opinion to be ignored.”

Campaigner unveils ‘alternative’ M3 route
By Elaine Edwards Ireland.com Last updated: 19-08-05, 16:39

A campaigner against the proposed route of the new M3 motorway near
the Hill of Tara in Co Meath has presented an alternative route for
the road, again urging that it be re-routed to avoid the historic
site.

A campaign graphic voicing opposition to the proposed M3 route
In a briefing on his legal action against the Government, lawyer
Vincent Salafia claimed that 70 per cent of more than 1,000
respondents in a recent survey by research group RED C favoured a 
different route for the M3, which will run from Clonee to Kells,
bypassing Dunshaughlin and Navan.

The campaigner said he had separated himself from the Tarawatch
protest group because he did not want them exposed to liability in
the event that he loses his High Court action against the route. He
said he was personally exposed financially if he loses the
forthcoming case.

Campaigners and their advisors are awaiting judgment from the Supreme
Court in a case related to the controversy over the Carrickmines
Castle site in Dublin. The outcome may have an effect on their legal
argument in the Tara case, which centres on technical points in
legislation under which the Minister for the Environment consented to
the route.

Mr Salafia expressed concern about the fact that no public hearing on
tolling had yet been heard, even though it has been widely reported
that the Eurolink consortium will toll the route and also receive a 
State subsidy.

Mr Salafia today presented what he said was a professionally designed
and “legally acceptable” engineering solution which would protect the
Hill of Tara. The alternative route is up to 2km shorter between
Navan and Dunshaughlin and brings the M3 nearer to Trim, which would
make sense he said.

“The NRA and the Government are saying ‘you must allow us to build
this motorway through Tara or you must sit in traffic jams; it’s the
only solution’. You, the motorist, and the citizen, were promised
upgrades and by-passes years ago, do not allow them to foist a 
destructive, wasteful and unsustainable – but highly lucrative –
motorway as a bullying tactic now,” he said.

“The only people who will benefit from the construction of the M3 are
the toll road operators and property speculators. The same company
who operate the M50 toll (NTR) have been selected as the preferred
bidder, they will operate it and profit from it in exactly the same
way. The prospect of large retail and commercial developments at
junctions along the route is a prime motivation behind large land
transfers in the Meath area.”

The NRA insists that the route chosen makes most sense economically
and that it will run further from the Hill of Tara than the existing
N3. However, Mr Salafia said Tara had to be considered a complex and
that it wasn’t confined to the hill itself. He wants the entire
complex declared a World Heritage Site.

Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe said he would like to see the matter
brought back before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the
Environment, which is chaired by the Fianna F€ ¦áil TD Sean Haughey.

Mr Haughey has previously said that plans to run the route through
the Tara area were “bordering on vandalism” against one of the most
important historic sites in the country.

Mr Cuffe said today: “It’s about time he put his money where his
mouth is and moved it on.”

The Green Party TD also said he believed there was public concern
about some of the investigation methods currently being used on sites
around Tara. Diggers are in operation on a number of the sites and
some environmentalists claim they may cause irreparable damage to
terrain or artifacts of archeological and historical significance.

Sinn F€ ¦éin TD Aongus € ¦Ó Snodaigh said his party favoured rerouting the
road alongside the development of public transport alternatives such
as a rail line to Navan.

“My main point is the protection of our natural environment and also
our archeological and historical heritage. Anyone who has any
understanding of history will understand that the outlying area is
often more important than the site itself. If you start to destroy
the landscape you lose the sense of what was there.”

The people of Ireland are invited to visit the Hill of Tara on August 15th. Tara Day, to express their opposition to the proposed twice-tolled Motorway through the Gabhra (TaraSkryne) Valley. Information will be available on the 38 sites along the proposed route, including those presently being excavated and others that may be investigated in the future. Maps will be available and everyone is invited to visit these sites that lie so close to the bottom of the Hill. People are asked to gather from 3 p.m. onwards and at 7 p.m. we invite any politicians who wish to join us for information and photographs.

The 15th of August has been chosen for this event because on August 15th 1843 Daniel O’Connell held a monster meeting at Tara attended by an estimated 750,000 people. These people held a belief that the strength of their unity could make a difference to their freedom. That same flicker of belief burns deep within us all.

Daniel O’Connell was not alone in choosing Tara as a rallying or battle point. Many others saw Tara as the location from which to launch a campaign. It was used by Brian Boru, by the O’Neill’s in the sixteenth century and was the focal point of the 1641 rebellion. There was also a skirmish there during the 1798 rebellion.

One of the major battles between the Norse and the high-king of Ireland was the Battle of Tara fought between Mael Sechlainn and Olaf Cuaran for the prize of the kingdom of Brega (the land surrounding Tara) and for Tara itself.

The public are asked to bring their county flags and the tri-colour with them to express their support of those who oppose the routing of the proposed road through the Valley. People are also invited to bring flags or banners representing various issues they might be trying to highlight in their own communities.

The National Roads Authority and Meath County Council have issued a propaganda pack on the archaeological aspects of the M3 and this is being selectively distributed countrywide. The pack includes a CD outlining how the proposed motorway might fit into the landscape.

However, Rath Lugh, one of the main outposts of Tara, has been
completely ignored. Perhaps the NRA and MCC do not want the public to know that it would be separated from its core, The impact on Skryne is also overlooked. Public taxpayers money is again being spent to promote a PPP project. The cost of this propaganda exercise is being investigated.

[email protected]

www.sacredireland.org

The Save the TaraSkryne Valley Group call on all concerned citizens to join them in a peaceful protest at the so-called “archaeological” dig at the foot of Tara’s Hill. This will be held on Monday 25th July at 7pm at Philpotstown/Blundelstown.

The site is well marked by the archaeological company on the N3 just north of the entrance to Tara as you travel in the Navan direction. We will collect at the gate where the site is visible.

Recent photographs in the newspapers show that the top of the Hill is clearly visible from this area. The coffee shop and church can be seen clearly in the distance. Photographs show topsoil being lifted by diggers and driven over by caterpillar wheels. More recently, pick axes are being used in 3 foot trenches.

Donald Murphy, managing director of Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd. said at a public seminar in Dalgan Park on the 11th June: “There won’t be big 22 tonne mechanical excavators just rooting the topsoil off the top.” He also stated: “The excavations as they take place … will be open to the public for viewing.” This is not the experience of the public heretofore. This is the company who were responsible for the excavations at Woodstown. He also admitted: “We are not experts on Tara.”

Minister Roche stated: “I am satisfied that the directions I have issued will ensure best practice in the carrying out of the archaeological work … They will protect heritage.” But Pat Wallace of the National Museum stated in his letter to the Minister regarding excavators: “The chances of retrieving archaeological objects in the face of heavy machinery of this sort are … very limited indeed.”

Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, PRO for the Save TaraSkryne Valley group said:
“Public money is being wasted on this unnecessary excavation. This is not research archaeology. Lowest standards are being applied to our most important archaeological, literary, historical and sacred landscape. This is wanton destruction and vandalism. The insistence on this particular route and the methods used is just sinister.”

The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, has cleared the way for the construction of the M3 motorway by issuing directions to Meath County Council on how archaeological work is to be conducted.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Roche said that stringent conditions would apply.

Commenting on a controversial interchange one kilometre north of the Hill of Tara, the minister said the National Roads Authority was putting in an alternative lighting scheme and extensive landscaping.

He added that in order to protect the landscape around Tara he told Meath County Council to ensure that the new development plan protected the rural character and archaeological heritage of the area.

Given concerns that massive developments would take place along the new motorway, the minister said he would consider using his powers to direct the council to amend its plan if it was not up to standard.

The controversial project was approved by An Bord Pleanála two years ago, but many archaeologists and historians have argued that part of Ireland’s most important heritage site will be destroyed.

The Director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace, had submitted a report to the Environment Minister in which it is reported he opposed the routing and, in particular, an interchange north of the hill.

rte.ie/news/2005/0511/m3.html

An online petition is avaliable for anyone wishing to object to the proposed development surrounding Tara.

If you want to sign it the address is
petitiononline.com/Temair/petition.html

They have approx 5000 sigs so far.

Heritage campaigners have delivered 2,000 submissions to the Oireachtas Transport Committee opposing plans to build a motorway through the historic landscape surrounding the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.

The submissions were collected by the Save Tara-Skryne Valley group at various locations throughout Ireland over the weekend.

The group is campaigning for a re-routing of the M3 motorway away from the Tara-Skryne Valley, which is rich with archaeology dating back to the Stone Age.

Vincent Salafia, a spokesman for the Save Tara-Skryne Valley group, said the argument against the current route of the motorway was based on economics as well as archaeological protection.

He said lengthy court battles and painstaking excavations mean the M3, in its current form, could not be completed before 2015.

“It would actually be cheaper and delivered quicker if they re-routed the motorway now,” he added.

From breakingnews.ie

Environment Minister Dick Roche has reportedly stated that he does not have the power to significantly alter the proposed route of the M3 motorway through Co Meath.

Campaigners are urging Mr Roche to re-route the road away from the Tara-Skryne valley due to the archaeological and historical importance of the area.

The proposed route of M3 would pass close to the Hill of Tara and would also lead to the destruction of dozens of archaeological sites.

However, reports this morning said the minister had insisted that his only role in the controversy is to decide on the method of preservation for archaeological sites.

Under a recent amendment to the National Monuments Act, Mr Roche has the power to order the in-situ preservation of such sites, a move that would necessitate a change in the route of the M3.

From Breaking news.ie

part of the article in the Guardian by
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Thursday November 11, 2004

The motorway plans have been passed by Ireland’s planning board, despite the campaign by archaeologists and local groups, and are now sitting on the desk of the new environment minister, Dick Roche, who has the power to say yes or no. A decision is imminent.

Dozens of academics from Ireland and abroad have written of their concerns in the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune. Dennis Harding of the archaeology department at Edinburgh University called the plans “an act of cultural vandalism as flagrant as ripping a knife through a Rembrandt painting”.

Archaeologists who have researched Tara say the nine-mile stretch of the new M3 motorway will mean the excavation of at least 28 sites and monuments in the road’s corridor. But these, they say, will be “ultimately destroyed”. They expect many more sites to be affected, with 48 archaeological zones within 500 metres of the road corridor and around one site every 300 metres along the road itself.

Conor Newman of the archaeology department at the National University of Ireland, Galway, is the director of a state-funded archeological research programme at the Hill of Tara. “They are knowingly putting this four-lane motorway through the middle of what is actually a relatively compact but uniquely important archaeological landscape,” he said. “I don’t mean landscape in an aesthetic sense, I mean landscape in an archaeological and historical sense. They are doing it willingly when they could have come up with alternative ideas.” He said archaeologists had not been listened to.

What puzzles many international archaeologists is why Ireland has chosen this motorway route at a time when British authorities are spending hundreds of millions of pounds trying to undo past mistakes at Stonehenge. There they are grassing over one road and burying another in a tunnel to remove traffic from the surroundings of the ancient monument.

Edel Bhreathnach, a medieval historian at University College Dublin, and editor of a forthcoming book on kingship and the landscape of Tara, said if the government approved the motorway it would be “the decision of a people who no longer understand their past”.

The road authorities have already dug test trenches along the corridor of the motorway, identifying 28 sites which they could excavate before building.

more at
guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1348030,00.html

Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron and her Irish-born actor boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, have joined the campaign which wants to prevent the new M3 motorway being built around the famous Hill of Tara.

Theron is to have a specially commissioned portrait of herself auctioned in order to raise funds for the campaign against the Clonee-Kells motorway through the Tara Skryne valley.

The South African actress, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a serial killer in Monster, is the girlfriend of the Irish film star Stuart Townsend who has also become a vocal supporter of the anti-motorway campaign.

Townsend said: “Barely anyone has tried to stop what surely will be one of the greatest archeological travesties of our time, second only to the ancient artifacts stolen in Iraq. But they had to start a war to get away with that one. “We here in Ireland seem to just be happy to let road builders dig up and tear through the most ancient and sacred place that exists in our land.”

More here:
mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/charlize-theron-tara.php

From the Irish Times – 08.09.04

The controversy over the routing of the M3 motorway near the historic Hill of Tara has been revived, with Meath county councillors agreeing to consult archaeologists about the treasures which may lie beneath the site of the road.

County council official Mr Oliver Perkins has told local councillors that surveys have identified 28 sites of potential archaeological importance on the section of the proposed motorway near the Tara/Skryne valley in Co Meath.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the National Museum of Ireland are to confer and produce a report shortly.

Mr Perkins added, however, that the schedule for appointment of a contractor remains September 2005. It is hoped to start construction at the end of 2005.

County councillors have no statutory role in the routing of the project, which has been confirmed following an oral public hearing by An Bord Pleanála two years ago.

However, some councillors, including Sinn Féin member Mr Joe Reilly, are arguing for the right of county councillors to continue campaigning for a change of route.

Independent councillor Mr Brian Fitzgerald said the motorway should be built in phases, starting with the section from Clonee to Dunshaughlin.

He said this would relieve traffic chaos, while allowing time for further archaeological research on the Dunshaughlin to Navan section.

Sunday Tribune 29 February 2004

Diarmuid Doyle

There is no such thing as compromise once local authorities and the Department of the Environment decide a road should be built. They announce their plans, local residents come up with alternatives, these are ignored and An Bord Pleanala passes the original plans.

-

I’m the man on the Navan bus. Every day, morning and evening you’ll see me huddled in a seat, wrapped in headphones and listening to Morning Ireland or the Last Word. I’ve been doing it for years. I know the N3 intimately now, every bump in the road, every signpost and pothole. I know all the sheep in the fields by their first names. I know where all the traffic snarls are, and the feeling of frustration that comes with being caught in them. I know how badly congested Dunsaughlin can get, and I really want to meet the genius who decided that three lanes of traffic should merge into one near Clonee. I know, too, the feeling of gratitude when the bus driver takes the short cut there and we can leave all the madness behind.

But I believe that the new motorway planned for the route, which would cut thirty minutes off a journey from Dublin to Cavan, is as unnecessary a road as has ever been built in this country, an act of infrastructural vandalism of a kind not seen since Dublin Corporation rogered Wood Quay senseless back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Almost 700 million euro is to be spent on saving those 1,800 seconds, and the road is to be directed right through the middle of the Tara / Skryne valley, a site that is “one of the most culturally and archaeologically significant places in the world”, according to an impressive list of academics and campaigners from all over the globe.

According to these people, who hail from Ireland, England, Wales, Belgium, Australia and the United States, and who wrote to newspapers last week, “many monuments [there] predate the Egyptian pyramids. The chamber within Tara’s Mound of the Hostages is perfectly aligned with the full moon of Lughnasa and the rising sun of Samhain and Imbolg.”

“The Hill of Tara has been a sanctuary for every generation since. It is precisely because it has remained intact, unlike many comparable European sites, that it holds a special key to understanding the continuous progression of European civilization. We are only just beginning to understand and appreciate how the Mound relates to the hundreds of other monuments in the archaeological complex, many of which will be destroyed if the valley is sliced in two.”

No doubt this will seem a bit limpwristed and weak-kneed to those who believe that the requirement to get home before the end of the Six One news justifies the introduction of diggers to such an historical site. And there are many such people. The row over the Carrickmines Castle site recently highlighted the huge gulf between environmentalists and commuters, whose lives are being daily frustrated by weaknesses in what passes for transport policy in this country. It is a tension that can only increase.

There should be no such tensions over the N3/M3 however, for the very simple reason that the traffic problems on the route are simply not bad enough to justify the destruction that will be caused. The N3, as currently laid out, is a relatively untroubled route in terms of traffic chaos. Certainly, there are some blackspots, but not many, and these can be dealt with locally. A small bypass around Dunsaughlin, for example, would solve the traffic problem there for a fraction of the cost of the proposed new motorway. Likewise in Navan and Kells.

The plan to build the M3, which will also require the destruction of acres of woodland in Dalgan Park near Navan, one of the few areas around the town where people can go for a walk, highlights the extent to which the road lobby has taken over the asylum. There is now no such thing as compromise once local authorities and the Department of the Environment decide that a road should be built. They announce their plans, local residents come up with alternatives, these are ignored and An Bord Pleanala passes the original plans without any serious consideration of whether they are actually needed.

The proposed new M9 from Kilcullen to Waterford, expected to cost one billion euros (which means, of course, much more) is another example of the madness of the roads lobby. It is already a decent enough road, and such traffic congestion as there is can be dealt with locally.

The M3 is a worse insult, however, and not just because of the damage that will be done to the Hill of Tara area, once described as “our ceremonial and mythical capital”. Local residents, far removed from the Nimby stereotype that attaches to some protestors, have come up with a series of alternative plans that would allow the authorities to achieve their aims while leaving the Tara / Skryne area unaffected. Last week’s letter from all those luminaries also contained some good suggestions: improve the existing N3, which seems the most sensible plan given that the road is already in good enough shape; re-open the Navan-Dublin rail line; or simply build the new road in an alternative location. (A local group, Bellinter Residents’ Association, has actually drawn up decent plans for such a route, which would be located between the N2 and N3).

The decision on the M3 will reveal a lot about the kind of county that Meath is to become over the next few years. Is it to be little more than a dormitory town for Dublin, a kind of park-and-sleep suburb where people’s journeys from the capital are facilitated by long and expensive toll-roads. Or is it to be allowed to continue as a county in its own right, and retain the rights of its history, its archaeology, its identity and its pride? Having lived in the county for almost a quarter of my life, I know which answer I’d give.

-----

Save Tara! hilloftara.info / tarawatch.org

Dimensions and probable date given here:

dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20021118/temple.html

2500~2300 B.C.
Max. 186 yard ovoid composed of trees roughly 2.2 yards across.