Ordinary citizens should stand by Tara

I BELIEVE it’s time for ordinary people to protest to the Government, or through the media, against the cultural vandalism threatening the ancient, sacred site of Tara.

The M3 route decision could be reversed, yet the Government is curiously reluctant to do so. Little time has been spent on consideration of alternatives. Some archeologically significant sites already discovered in the area — there are at least 38 of them — have been ‘downgraded’ by the NRA.

In a paper presented to the Environment Minister in 2005, Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum, stated that sites at Restown had been downgraded and that “this almost amounts to a redefinition of a monument type in non-monument terms ... (in one case) Bronze Age material uncovered during testing is not mentioned in the resolution document”. Why?