Jarring notes on a cultural scandal

THE upcoming Rugby World Cup brings to mind the Fields of Athenry reverberating around Lansdowne. Written, of course, by that master songwriter Pete St John, who I last saw in Dublin protesting against the proposed motorway through Tara.

It was a shame that a man who has given so much to the culture of Ireland had to protest to protect Tara.

Another cultural icon, William Butler Yeats, protested over a century ago against excavations at Tara.

The harp that once through Tara Halls the soul of music shed, now all is mute, dug up, the humming of cars instead.

Micheál Mídeach

B2/7 MacMahon Place

Menai

Sydney

Australia