Council to debate Viking find

CITY councillors in Waterford will discuss the potential significance of a Viking settlement find along the planned route of the €300 million Waterford city by-pass at a committee meeting of the local authority next week.

The settlement was discovered by archaeologists working on the site close to Woodstown in the city. City councillors want to know all the facts about the find, before any further work continues at the site.

Workers Party Councillor Davy Walsh said a meeting and more information from the National Roads Authority (NRA) is critically needed.

“This is one of the most important developments in this city in years. Our whole future is tied up in the Waterford city bypass and now we find out it may be in jeopardy,” he said.

City mayor Tom Cunningham said they would spend the time in the run-up to the meeting finding out as much as possible about the find.

Waterford Chamber of Commerce is also adopting a wait-and-see approach and is attempting to find out more about what seems a major archaeological find.

“The bypass is very important but if this is a major archaeological find, we also have to respect this,” said chief executive Frank O’Donoghue.

The National Roads Authority says it is treating the Waterford site as one of “special interest”, and insists road works will press ahead.

However, Professor of Medieval History at UCC Donnchadh Ó Corráin and an expert on the Viking Age, has already called for the route to be changed to protect the site, which he described the site as “one of the most exciting new finds in a century”.