Dispute over effects of M3
work
By - Adam Harvey.
CONSTRUCTION WORK on the M3 motorway will continue at the
foot of the ancient Rath Lugh promontory fort near Tara,
despite claims from an NUI Galway archaeologist that the
work is putting the site at risk.
The National Roads Authority says that a 2,000-year-old
circular fortification - declared a national monument -
will not be damaged by work to remove part of the
hillside on which the fort sits.
"The construction work will not be impacting whatsoever
on the declared national monument", said Seán
O'Neill, a spokesman for the NRA. "The area of the
national monument is being avoided at all costs - the
contractors have put up fencing, which the protesters
have removed. There wouldn't even be partial impacting on
the site", said Mr. O'Neill.
However, Conor Newman, an archaeology lecturer at NUI
Galway, says that the motorway will cut open the hillside
on which Rath Lugh sits, and a steep cliff will
eventually be formed just 20m from the outer wall of the
fort.
The entire hill is unstable, he said, as it is built on
an esker - a ridge made of small rocks left behind by the
glacier that formed the local hills and valleys.
"It's the bed of a river that ran under a glacier", said
Mr. Newman, "small round stones held together by sand and
silt".
Mr. Newman, and the small group of protesters camped on
the side of the esker in the path of the M3, argue that
cutting into the esker will inevitably damage Rath Lugh.
"The monument is at the top of the esker - you can't
divorce one from another", he said.
The protesters have built an elaborate camp on the side
of the esker, and they say that they have also dug
tunnels into the ground which they will occupy in an
attempt to stop or delay construction.
The esker is one of the last obstacles to construction in
the Lismullin area. The motorway's path is clear from the
side of the esker, as bulldozers have cleared the land on
both approaches to the site. A confrontation with
protesters is looming as the contractors will need to
clear their camp to shore up the esker before work at the
site can continue.
Mr. Newman says the fort was one of the original
defensive positions protecting the Hill of Tara, and
would be one of the first purely military settlements
built in Ireland.
"It probably dates from shortly after the birth of
Christ", he said.
© The Irish Times, 11th. March 2008.
Related Articles:
Rath
Lugh feature on "Today with Pat Kenny" Radio Show -(Audio
file).
Tara
protesters in for long haul.
M3 Protesters warn Gardaí: Tunnel "will
collapse".
M3 motorway protesters claim to have entered Tunnel under
road.
21st. century Souterrain.
Video
footage of Rath Lugh Tunnel.
