Gormley denies u-turn on Tara UNESCO designation

Environment Minister John Gormley has denied accusations that he has abandoned his promise to include the Hill of Tara on Ireland's list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Tarawatch organisation says Mr Gormley has backed out of a pledge to present a revised list of nominated sites - including Tara - to UNECSO in Seville tomorrow.

It also says the minister has spent vast amounts of taxpayers' money defending a lawsuit by the European Commission over the demolition of the Lismullen monument as part of the M3 motorway project in Tara.

Mr Gormley, however, angrily rejected the accusations yesterday, saying the UNESCO site designation would go ahead and he had done "more than any other minister in relation to archaeology".

Tarawatch is planning a protest outside the Department of the Environment today calling on Mr Gormley to resign over his failure to protect Tara.