Don’t let Tara become ‘another Four Courts’

LAST Friday (June 30), was the 84th anniversary of a terrible event in Irish history — the destruction of the Public Records Office by Irregulars led by Rory O’Connor.

My grandfather, Séamus Ó Ceallaigh, together with his fellow early Irish historian Eoin MacNeill, the former leader of the Volunteers, went together under fire to the Four Courts to try to persuade O’Connor to desist.

Their entreaties were in vain and two lorry-loads of gelignite exploded there.

My grandfather was in the street when he heard the explosion. He wept. His view that this act would cause irreparable harm to our understanding of Ireland’s past will be endorsed by any historian.

We will soon see another act of vandalism with consequences for our understanding of Ireland’s past — the building of a section of the M3 through the Tara/Skryne valley. This time the perpetrator is the Irish Government, a member of which, ironically, is MacNeill’s grandson, Michael McDowell.

In Europe, few such ancient landscapes survive undamaged, and Tara is exceptional in being virtually intact. The damage caused by the motorway will be irreparable. Last Easter the Government celebrated the foundation of the State. Now is the time for it to pay more than lip service to the values of those who, like MacNeill, played a part in its foundation, and divert this part of the M3 in order to protect our heritage.

Dr Niamh Whitfield

47 Faroe Road

London W14 0EL