You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone ...
So went a line from Big Yellow Taxi, the protest song written by Joni Mitchell in 1969.
I think of that song when confronted with the almost weekly reports of threats to our culture and heritage.
Road developments, the activities of ruthless property speculators, widespread vandalism, and ignorance of heritage issues among key decision-makers in central and local government have combined to threaten the very existence of our national treasure trove.
These forces threaten a resource that constitutes a bridge through time linking our present super-technological age with a colourful, often painful, but always fascinating, past.
On the one hand, the country is an archaeological goldmine.
Consider Carrickmines on the M50 in Dublin: over 100,000 artefacts have been unearthed there to date, along with remnants of foundation walls from a medieval castle.
Bronze Age sites, ancient limekilns, a Neolithic camp and parts of early Christian ringforts were excavated on the line of the Fermoy/Watergrasshill bypass in Co Cork.
But some of our greatest heritage assets face extreme danger, one ominous example being the proposal to build a motorway so perilously close to the renowned Hill of Tara - a site comparable to England's Stonehenge in historic and archaeological terms.
We have one of the fastest rates of heritage destruction worldwide, with an estimated 10% of precious sites being wiped out every decade.
At this rate, all of Ireland heritage sites could have disappeared by the end of the 21st century.
The 1970s campaign to save Wood Quay showed that no heritage site is sacred once powerful vested interests are at stake.
People of all ages and from all walks of life came together to oppose the plan to build the infamous 'civic bunkers' over the historic Viking site.
But people power in that instance proved no match for the developers. An important part of the medieval city of Dublin was buried under glass and concrete.
The 'faire city' of Kilkenny, in my native county, has not been spared the wholesale onslaught on Ireland's heritage.
Medieval monuments have been sadly neglected.
The building of a hotel beside John's Bridge effectively wiped out the line of the old town defences.
A concrete car park on Pennyfeather Lane is an aesthetic and architectural nightmare come true.
And what remains of the town wall is in dire need of attention to preserve this part of Kilkenny's medieval heritage.
Tax breaks granted to developers under the urban renewal scheme have exacerbated the situation nationwide.
The aim was to breathe life back into neglected and decayed inner city regions. A noble aspiration.
But developers exploited the planning laws and regulations to instead inflict large-scale property developments on vulnerable heritage sites.
In March 1650, artillery-fire from Cromwell's invading army rained down on Kilkenny city, and his rampaging troops caused extensive damage to historic buildings.
But modern property developers have done more harm to the city's medieval heritage than the man we love to hate could ever have achieved.
If the developers are not reined in, Kilkenny, along with other Irish cities and towns, will be lucky not to lose a great deal more of their precious links with the past that are also vital to its appeal as a tourist destination.
I believe that local history and basic archaeology should be essential Leaving Cert subjects in our schools, and that these subjects should ideally be taught to pupils from an early age.
Decision-makers at all levels of society who have a major say in matters affecting the future of historic or archaeological sites should be required also to enrol for courses in these subjects.
That way, there might be some hope for our beleaguered heritage.
We need to act on these issues before it is too late.
To quote Joni Mitchell again: "Don't it always seem to go... that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
John Fitzgerald
Lower Coyne Street
Callan
Co Kilkenny
