Why not allow heritage experts to testify?
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.
Since An Bord Pleanála’s approval in August 2003, the National Roads Authority, in numerous public statements and interviews, including a submission to the Oireachtas Environment Committee hearing on June 1, has consistently downplayed both the significance of the landscape and the number of archaeological monuments that will be destroyed.
This has now been taken up by representatives of business interests (IBEC and Co Meath chambers of commerce) who dismissed the archaeological significance of both the landscape and the sites discovered in their recent presentations to the Oireachtas Transport Committee.
The resolution of this controversy is of utmost importance to the resolution of the dispute over the M3 - ignoring or dismissing it will only exacerbate the situation.
Secondly, if overly-legalistic reasons are allowed to prevent these committees from hearing crucial evidence, their deliberations and recommendations will be rendered practically worthless.
Julitta Clancy
Parsonstown
Batterstown
Co Meath
