Hill of Tara / M3 Motorway - Activists Site
Taoiseach urged to re-route M3
Irish Independent
Thursday May 1 2008
Bertie Ahern has been asked to re-route the M3 motorway away from the Hill of Tara as one of his last acts in office.
A petition containing almost 40,000 names was handed into the Department of the Taoiseach which urged him to reconsider the route of the Co Meath motorway which, it is claimed, could destroy heritage.
16 Irish heritage sites feature in ‘must-see’ book
The Irish Times - 23 April 2008
STEVEN CARROLL
A GRAVEYARD, a post office and an old-time whiskey distillery are among 16 Irish heritage sites included in a new book titled 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die. Newgrange, the Hill of Tara and Trinity College Dublin are some other Irish attractions in the book, which was produced in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The sites were selected by hundreds of travel journalists from across the globe and the book features many locations that have been designated as Unesco world heritage sites. Sinead Grace of Tourism Ireland said inclusion in the guide was a positive development for tourism on the island. “Any mention is good for tourism in the island of Ireland and a positive mention like this which will be circulated around the world can only be good for our tourism industry,” Ms Grace said. The book, compiled by Englishman Richard Cavendish, is part of a bestselling “1001″ series. It will be released on May 18th. Ms Grace said she was not surprised by any of the Irish inclusions in the list.
Hill of Tara (between Navan and Dunshaughlin, Ireland)
Domain of the gods and kings sacred to Ireland’s early communities
Nowhere in Ireland has richer associations than Temair, the ancient site of Tara. In prehistoric times it was already a major center for ritual, but it assumed even greater importance after the arrival of the Celts. The place featured prominently in early Irish legends and came to be regarded as the seat of the high kings of Ireland. As such, it became a potent symbol and rallying point of Irish unity and patriotism.
Tara is a complex site consisting of at least twenty-four separate monuments. The oldest of these is a passage grave from the Neolithic era (carbon-dated as 3000-2400 B.C.E.), although many of the structures were erected in the Bronze Age or the Iron Age, and not all were tombs. The site also includes a number of Raths (ring forts), earthworks, and ritual enclosures. Most of these were later given colourful names, linking them with ancient gods or kings. These include the Mound of the Hostages – a megalithic passage tomb and probably the oldest monument at the site – the Rath of the Synods. And the Banqueting Hall.
From early times, Tara was regarded as a sacred site because of its links with the high king. The office of high king was usually held by the local ruler and did not signify any great military or territorial power, but it was hugely prestigious. The High King did not reside at Tara, but did participate in its ceremonies. The most important of these was the feis temrach (feast of Tara), which symbolized the ritual union between the king and the goddess of sovereignty. Prospective rulers also had to place a hand on the Lia Fail (Stone of Destiny), a mystic pillar stone reputed to shriek whenever it was touched by the rightful king. In later years, the Christian missionaries sought to exploit the reputation of the site by claiming that St. Patrick’s decisive confrontation with the pagan high king took place on the Hill of Tara.
ICOMOS International: World Heritage Day 2008 Description
ICOMOS Ireland: Main Objectives of the company
Kashmir News: On World Heritage Day, students wake up to Kashmir heritage ‘vandalism’
M3 protesters focus on Gormley’s Unesco plan
The Irish Times - 19 April 2008
RENEWED CALLS to reroute the M3 motorway from the valleys of Tara and Skryne in Co Meath have been made in response to Minister for the Environment John Gormley’s recent comments on the site. The Minister said last week he did not see the planned M3 motorway preventing the Hill of Tara from being nominated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) world heritage site. He said he believed it would be possible to take a series of initiatives to preserve the Gabhra Valley between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skryne. Campaigners believe Tara would struggle to achieve the status Mr Gormley desires because of the nature of the works.
The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Trinity College
Dublin will mark ‘World Heritage Day’, Friday, 18th April 2008.
ICOMOS - The International Council on Monuments and Sites, is hosting
International Day for Monuments and Sites 2008.
The theme for this year is “Religious Heritage and Sacred Places” -
which is particularly appropriate for the Hill of Tara.
A number of high profile speakers will address the recent announcement
by Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, that a member of ICOMOS
has been retained in order to promote the nomination of the Hill of
Tara archaeological complex, to UNESCO World Heritage status, despite
the M3 motorway being built through it.
Minister Gormley launches the legal incorporation and charitable status designation of ICOMOS Ireland
- Press release - 11/04/08 - Dept of the Environment
M3 not to stop Tara getting world status, says Gormley
Irish Times - Friday, April 11, 2008
MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has said he does not see the planned M3 motorway in Co Meath preventing the Hill of Tara from being nominated as a world heritage site. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the legal incorporation of the Irish branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, Mr Gormley said that while he had “always been personally opposed to the route of the M3″, he believed it would be possible to take a series of initiatives to preserve the Gabhra Valley between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skryne. The initiatives - which are to be a series of national rather than county-based preservation orders - would prevent “commercial spread” alongside the motorway, the Minister said. He also said a directive would be put in place to provide landscape protection. Mr Gormley commented that with these measures in place Tara could still meet the strict criteria for incorporation on the list of UN world heritage sites. Such criteria rely heavily on natural or man-made heritage being well preserved.
 Professor Eogan |
On Friday 21 March, Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, of the Green Party, was quoted in The Irish Times as saying he could “give a cast-iron assurance” that the national monument at Rath Lugh would not be damaged by building the motorway along the current alignment.” On the same day, Professor George Eogan travelled to Rath Lugh with TaraWatch, and witnessed the demolition works taking place there. A video of an interview with him is available here, and the transcript is printed below. Professor Eogan is one of Ireland’s most eminent archaeologists. He is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin. George is also former Director of the Discovery Programme, the Irish state archaeological research unit, which sponsored the Tara Project, which entailed ten years of non-instrusive archaeological and historical research, by Conor Newman, Joe Fenwick, and Edel Bhreatnach. Today, The Irish Times published a letter from Professor Eogan:
M3 construction near Rath Lugh moves ahead
RTE News -Thursday, 20 March 2008 11:24
The National Roads Authority has confirmed work is advancing on the M3 motorway in the area close to Rath Lugh where protestors have set up camp. Up to 50 gardaí are said to be at the scene.
The NRA says it is putting in place what is known as a ‘box cut’, which outlines the road’s route. It is also re-enforcing the Rath Lugh monument with a quib wall and security fencing. It says the steps are being taken for health and safety reasons, and with the advice and consent of the gardaí.
The NRA says workers at the site are being intimidated by protestors, and that a civil understanding reached on Saturday allowing for the fencing to be put in place has not been honoured.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley visited the Rath Lugh monument this morning, where he discussed preservation issues around the site with the Department’s archaeologists. He did not visit the road site or speak with protestors. A spokesman said the Minister is satisfied that measures being proposed by the NRA will protect the national momument at Rath Lugh.
Saint Patrick wearing SAVE TARA t-shirt in Dublin Parade. Photograph courtesy of Niall Carson, PA.
Lack of parade in Navan slammed
Meath Chronicle - 22 March 2008
THE failure of Navan, the town closest to the Hill of Tara with its strong associations with St Patrick, to hold a St Patrick`s Day parade this year has been slammed by M3 protestors, Tarawatch.
The group, which had representatives making their opposition to the M3 motorway known in parades in the US and Australia, said that those who were championing the destruction of Tara were also saying that St Patrick`s Day was not worth celebrating.
The streets of Navan were quiet on Monday as the annual parade and festival was cancelled due to a lack of volunteers to organise it.
Elsewhere, thousands lined the routes of St Patrick`s Day parades in towns such as Kells, Trim, Athboy and Slane as the annual national feast day celebrations took place. A number of parades took place on Sunday to avoid a clash with Holy Week at the request of the church authorities, and others took place on Monday in brilliant sunshine but cold easterly winds.
Belfast Telegraph: Rath Lugh protester leaves tunnel
RTE News: Protesters claim deal with NRA
Irish Independent: Anger over ‘pressure’ on Tara tunnel protester
Irish Emigrant: M3 protesters take new approach
Irish Independent: Squeak resurfaces after dad’s plea
Protester wins reprieve on work at M3 site
ADAM HARVEY in Rath Lugh
Irish Times - 17 March 2008
THE M3 protester who emerged from the tunnel at Rath Lugh, near Tara, at the weekend, says she had a “whale of time” underground and was pleased to have won a month-long moratorium on work at the site. Work will not begin again at Rath Lugh until April 17th, said protester Lisa Feeney, giving M3 opponents enough time to mount further legal challenges to this contentious section of the road which they say is too close to important heritage sites.
“There is a Supreme Court challenge in three weeks, so that will give us enough time to prepare for that,” said Ms Feeney. She said last night that her 60 hours spent underground was a “whale of a time. It was quite comforting to be in the womb of Mother Earth, I could hear a lot of what was going on, the yells and cheers of the crowd”.
But Ms Feeney believes that inappropriate pressure was placed on her via her father and uncle who were allowed on site to try and talk her out. “It was emotional manipulation,” she said. “My uncle was told continually that I was going to die. I think it’s a violation of my human rights.” Ms Feeney entered the tunnel dug into a hill in the path of the motorway at Rath Lugh at about 7am on Thursday and came out at about 9pm on Saturday, about 60 hours later.
Paddy O’Kearney, a friend of Ms Feeney who talked to her via two-way radio throughout her three-day protest, said: “The situation could have been dealt with in a much better way. There was immense psychological pressure on her from her father and uncle.” Mr O’Kearney described the conduct of the motorway builders as “torture - worse than if they had pulled her fingernails out”. Mr O’Kearney said that construction officials told her family that their daughter’s life was at risk. Ms Feeney left Rath Lugh after emerging from the tunnel and was yesterday resting with family, said Mr O’Kearney.
The site of Ms Feeney’s protest was sealed off behind a chain-link fence and was yesterday being patrolled by security officers. Protesters have vowed to stay at the site, said Derek Berrill, a spokesman for the Rath Lugh Direct Action Group. The protest generated much media attention, and yesterday a steady steam of visitors came to see what the fuss was about.
Protesters clash with security guards at the M3 motorway site at Rath Lugh, Co Meath. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA wire
RTE News: Injunction to stop Rath Lugh work refused
Irish Independent: M3 protester chains herself to tunnel in tense stand-off
Irish Examiner: Tunnel protest fails to stop M3 workCONTACT the Rath Lugh Direct Action Camp / view video & images
High Court rejects bid to halt work on M3 motorway
The Irish Times - Friday, March 14, 2008
AN APPLICATION by protesters for an injunction to halt work on the M3 Dublin-Navan motorway on grounds of safety and potential damage to a national monument linked to the Hill of Tara has been rejected by the High Court. Ms Justice Mary Laffoy was told yesterday that protesters had dug a tunnel near the monument, at an esker known as Rath Lugh, and that any attempts to remove a female protester who had allegedly chained herself to a jack in the tunnel could result in the tunnel’s collapse and would represent a danger to safety.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) rejected claims that works on the motorway created a danger of damage to Rath Lugh and argued any delay in the project would cost the taxpayer €330,000 a week. Rath Lugh is located about 3.7km (2.3 miles) northeast of the Hill of Tara and is divided from the hill by the existing N3 road. The injunction application was brought by a building surveyor, Peadar Ó Ceallaigh, Wolfe Tone Close, Jervis Street, Dublin.
He claimed the roadworks endangered Rath Lugh and that a woman “trapped” in a tunnel underneath the road route was in danger from the impact of heavy diggers passing over it. Mr Ó Ceallaigh said a preservation order for Rath Lugh, signed last month by Environment Minister John Gormley, was under threat because of the works. He had carried out his own survey and damage has already been caused to the esker. This was one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe and needed to be properly investigated before any more work took place, he said. If the project was delayed for even two or three weeks, he would try to pay the cost from his own pocket, he added. The NRA, the Minister and the Attorney General opposed the injunction application.
Five companies involved in the project - Eurolink Motorway Operations (M3) Ltd, Ferrovial, Agroman (Irl) Ltd, SIAC Construction Ltd and Polish firm Budimex Dronex Spolka Akeygna - were represented in court yesterday but were not party to the proceedings. Lawyers for the NRA and the Minister said there was no danger to the preservation order. Declan McGrath, counsel for the NRA, said no work would take place which would impinge on the area of the preservation order or on a buffer zone around it. Refusing to grant the injunction, Ms Justice Laffoy said Mr Ó Ceallaigh had no legal standing to make an application on behalf of a person in a tunnel. A challenge to the route of the M3 had already been dismissed by the High Court and an appeal to the Supreme Court was withdrawn, the judge noted.
Protesters clash with security guards at the M3 motorway site at Rath Lugh, Co Meath. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA wire
