05.01.07
Roche orders halt to works on henge site near Tara
RTE – News: Prehistoric site discovery halts work on M3 (Video)
RTE – Morning Ireland: Prehistoric find halts some work on M3 (Audio) 
Irish Times: Work halts at ancient site on M3 route in Meath (2 May)
Press Release Issued by Dick Roche’s Office 5pm, 1 May 2007:
Dick Roche, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has received a report that archaeologists working on the route of the M3 motorway have found archaeological evidence of a national monument at Lismullin, Co. Meath.
The archaeologists were excavating known adjacent sites under the directions issued by the Minister for the archaeological works on the motorway scheme.
In the course of these excavations, additional archaeological features were discovered on the edge of the area of the excavations and, as required by the Minister’s directions, the area being excavated was expanded. Two lines of stake holes (15 – 20 cm in diameter), have provided evidence for the existence in the expanded area in the past of a circular enclosure (80 m in diameter) with a smaller inner central enclosure (16 m in diameter). Two further rows of stake holes show evidence of an entrance and passageway from the outer enclosure to the inner enclosure. The monument has been heavily truncated by ploughing in the past and the surviving features are shallow and fragile.
The report received by the Minister was made to him under the relevant provisions of the National Monuments Acts. These require that where a National Monument is discovered during the carrying out of a road development, the matter shall be reported to the Minister.
Pending any directions by the Minister, no works which would interfere with the Monument may be carried out, except works urgently required to secure its preservation, carried out in accordance with measures specified by the Minister. In this instance, the archaeological team was authorised to continue to clean back the surface of the area, to complete a plan of the features and to check for associated features outside the enclosure. A small number of the stakeholes are also to be excavated to try to recover sufficient material for radiocarbon dating.
No further excavation of the enclosure will take place pending the decision of the Minister on any directions to issue in relation to the monument.The National Monuments Acts provide that where the discovery of a National Monument has been reported to the Minister he must consult with the Director of the National Museum before issuing directions in the matter to the road authority.
The Minister has consulted with the Director of the Museum on the directions that would be most appropriate in this instance from the point of view of best archaeological practice. Directions will issue as soon as possible after the Minister receives the Director’s response. The Minister is advised that the surviving elements of the Monument are extremely fragile, underlining the need for an early decision on how to proceed.
ENDS
Press release by TaraWatch sent in the morning of the 1st May:
PRESS RELEASE
TARAWATCH
Tuesday, 1 may 2007
‘Minister Roche Must Place Preservation Order on Massive Henge Discovery at Tara’
A massive prehistoric ‘henge’ site has been discovered in Lismullen, beside the Hill of Tara. The circular enclosure is over the size of 3 football fields, and is without doubt a national monument because of the rarity of henges in Ireland, as well as its importance to the Hill of Tara archaeological complex.
The discovery last month was kept a secret by the authorities, and it is understood that the National Roads Authority (NRA) has heavily pressurised the archaeologists (Archaeological Consultancy Services (ACS) to rush to complete excavations, so the site can be demolished. Large numbers of archaeologists have been paid overtime to complete the work, and the site is under 24 hour security.
TaraWatch has written solicitors’ letters to the Minister for the Envrionment, Minister for Transport Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority and demanded that all works on the site cease immediately, as is required by section 14 A of the National Monuments Act, 2004, which states:
(4) Where a national monument has been discovered…then —
(a) the road authority carrying out the road development shall report the discovery to the Minister,
(b) … no works which would interfere with the monument shall be carried out, except works urgently required to secure its preservation carried out in accordance with such measures as may be specified by the Minister,
The Minister, Dick Roche, is then required to consult with the Director of the National Museum, Pat Wallace. This has not occured and the Museum is currently investigating the site.
In this case, instead of stopping work on the site and consulting with the Minister, the NRA have accelerated works and will destroy this national monument.
Therefore, it is legally incumbent on the Minister to halt works, place a Preservation Order on the site, and reroute the M3 motorway like he did in Waterford in 2005 when he rerouted the N25 to avoid a large Viking site in Woodstown.
Vincent Salafia said:
“This site is a show-stopper and is without doubt a national monument of world significance according to our experts. It would be a sin to demolish it.
“Legal and expert advice is being taken, with a view to seeking an Interlocutory Injunction in order to secure the site before it can be demolished.
“Martin Cullen drafted this legislation. Now he and Minister Roche are legally bound to enforce it.
ENDS
ATTACHMENT – NATIONAL MONUMENTS ACT 2004 – Section 14A
(4) Where a national monument has been discovered to which subsection (3) of this section relates, then—
(a) the road authority carrying out the road development shall report the discovery to the Minister,
(b) subject to subsection (7) of this section, and pending any directions by the Minister under paragraph (d) of this subsection, no works which would interfere with the monument shall be carried out, except works urgently required to secure its preservation carried out in accordance with such measures as may be specified by the Minister,
(c) the consent of the Minister under section 14 of this Act and—
(i) any further consent under any other provision of the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2004, or
(ii) a licence under any provision of the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2004 other than a licence under section 25 (as amended by the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994), is not required,
(d) the Minister may, at his discretion, issue directions to the road authority concerned for the doing to such monument of one or more of the following matters:
(i) preserve it;
(ii) renovate or restore it;
(iii) excavate, dig, plough or otherwise disturb the ground within, around, or in proximity to it; which the national monument is situate as a result of the
carrying out of the road development;
(iv) any matter of policy of the Government, of the Minister or of any other Minister of the Government;
(v) the need to collect or disseminate information on national monuments or in respect of heritage generally;
(vi) the cost implications (if any) that would, in the Minister’s opinion, occur from the issuing of a direction, or not issuing a direction, under subsection (4)(d) of this section.
(iv) make a record of it;
(v) demolish or remove it wholly or in part or to disfigure, deface, alter, or in any manner injure or interfere with it, and the road authority shall, except where section 14B(8)(a)(iii) of this Act applies, comply with such directions.
(5) (a) The Minister shall consult in writing with the Director of the National Museum of Ireland before issuing directions under subsection (4)(d) of this section.
(b) The period for consultation under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not be more than 14 days from the day the consultative process was commenced by the Minister or such other period as may, in any particular case, be agreed to between the Minister and the Director of the National Museum of Ireland.
(6) In exercising discretion under subsection
(4)(d) of this section—
(a) the Minister is not restricted to archaeological considerations but is entitled to consider the public interest notwithstanding that such exercise may
involve—
(i) injury to or interference with the national monument concerned, or
(ii) the destruction in whole or in part of the national monument concerned,
(b) the Minister may have regard to the following to the extent that they appear to the Minister to be relevant in exercising discretion in any particular case:
(i) the preservation, protection or maintenance of the archaeological, architectural, historical or other cultural heritage or amenities of, or associated with the national monument;
(ii) the nature and extent of any injury or interference with the national monument;
(iii) any social or economic benefit that would accrue to the State or
(7) Where the Minister considers it expedient to do so in the interests of public health or safety the Minister may issue such directions without having regard to or having considered matters which, if it were not expedient to do so in the interests of public health or safety, the Minister would have regard to or have considered.
(8) In this section—
‘approved road development’ means a road development approved under either or both sections 49 and 51 of the Roads Act 1993; ‘road development’ has the same meaning as it has in the Roads Act 1993.