Minister should change direction

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.

Central to this complex is the large hengiform enclosure, the sole monument along the entire M3 corridor that the NRA (in consultation with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government) has felt compelled to declare a national monument.

But what brought about this Pauline conversion on the road to Dublin for the NRA/Environment Department, and why this particular monument and not the others in the Gabhra Valley, each of which is an integral part of Tara and its royal demesne (ferann ríg).

Far from a momentary flash of enlightenment, one must suspect that the truth lies in the fact that the extraordinary significance of this monument simply could not be dismissed, downgraded or denied. In this instance, the direct parallels to the hengiform monument at Lismullin are to be found on each the other major prehistoric royal sites of Navan Fort, Co Armagh, Knockaulin, Co Kildare and Rathcroghan, Co Roscommon.

If incontrovertible proof were required to demonstrate beyond any doubt that this short section of the M3 is impacting directly on Tara, then surely this is it.

Environment Minister Dick Roche is faced with a stark choice — to move the M3 away from the Gabhra Valley thus avoiding Tara’s core archaeological landscape or to exercise his discretionary powers under the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 and grant the NRA his permission to ‘destroy’ this national monument — a monument that even the NRA and his own Department have conceded is an integral part of Tara.

Having set the precedent of moving a road to accommodate the Viking-age national monument at Woodstown, Co Waterford, perhaps the minister will again find the courage and conviction to do the same for Tara.

Joe Fenwick

Archaeology Department

NUI Galway