Road cuts through symbol of our cultural identity

I READ with interest Donal Hickey’s Planet Cars article (Irish Examiner, March 15) and his comment that “Ireland still has time to learn from the mistakes made in America.”

He quotes one Dr de Santo who stressed the need for "good environment stewardship" and the vision to see beyond asphalt and interchanges.

The National Roads Authority's sole function is to build roads and so its vision can only be myopic. It has the political mandate to forge ahead and the resources to see projects through to completion at any cost financial, environmental or cultural.

It is hard to believe that at the dawn of the 21st century a toll-road, the M3 motorway, is to cut a swathe through the ancient royal demesne of Tara and effectively bisect the recognised archaeological landscape.

Tara, with its sacred pedigree stretching back over 6,000 years, is about to become the latest casualty of our programme of 'national infrastructural development.'

In building these arteries of communication, will we not be guilty of destroying the heart of our cultural identity the symbol of which is Tara itself?

Joe Fenwick,

Department of Archaeology,

NUI,

Galway.