HAVING visited Ireland many times, I’m familiar with the social and economic changes that the country has been undergoing for the past 15 years.

HAS our long-held respect for the dead and the sanctity of graves been forgotten in the rush to progress and prosperity?

IT was pleasing to hear Environment Minister John Gormley voice his concerns about chewing gum and cigarette butts on our streets and his determination to clean up the mess.

An ancient burial ground near the Hill of Tara in Co Meath was razed to the ground during overnight work on the controversial M3 motorway, environmentalists claimed today.

ALL compromise comes at a price and sometimes the price is too high.

ON the 160th anniversary of the death of Daniel O’Connell, the Taoiseach chose very deliberately to link his speech at Westminster with the Liberator.

IT comes as little surprise that after the mechanical soil-stripping in advance of motorway construction, yet more archaeological monuments have come to light in the Gabhra Valley — among them the extensive archaeological complex at Lismullin.

LET us talk creatively about Tara and the M3: pause the motorway work and reroute the Gabhra Valley section of the M3.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche recently launched a study of important battle sites and vowed to amend the National Monuments Act to protect them, saying: “Battlefields … can increase our knowledge and understanding of momentous events in Irish history.”

IT is depressing that only now, somewhat late in the day, Meath County Council has united in its opposition to the twice-tolled M3.

THE wanton destruction by the National Roads Authority of important sites of natural and historical heritage in the Gabhra Valley and around Lismullin and Rath Lugh near Tara is unbelievable.

WHY does the Taoiseach want to push ahead with the twice-tolled M3 above any other motorway?