Why not allow heritage experts to testify?

THE inability of two senior heritage officials to attend and give evidence to the Oireachtas Environment Committee hearing on the proposed M3 (Clonee-to-Kells) motorway is of serious concern on two levels.

Firstly, the evidence of the director of the National Museum and the chief state archaeologist is of crucial importance to the environment committee’s efforts to help towards the resolution of a controversy of major significance for our national heritage and also for the long-suffering commuters of Co Meath, and indeed Co Cavan.

The controversy relates to the core problem with the M3 - ie, the significance or otherwise of the Tara archaeological landscape through the heart of which one section of this motorway is routed. The importance of this ‘intact archaeological landscape’ was emphatically stressed from the very beginning not only by acknowledged experts on Tara but also by the archaeological consultants employed by Meath county council at route selection stage.