Tara advert was a publicity
stunt
Sir - I read with great care the amazing, full-page
advert taken out in the national press by the NRA on the
M3 Tara controversy, which invites people to "come to
their own conclusions". I have.
It's clear from the language and structure that this
advert was written as a pretend presentation of "the
facts" by a highly paid PR person with a gift for
fluffing over the facts. I ask the NRA to name this
person.
It talks about independent, archaeological advisors. Who
were they? It states that "they identified routes which
were viable" (note the word "routes"). What were the
other routes the archaeologists identified? The advert
does not tell us - why not?
This advert talks about three years' consultation -
excellent - with "a myriad of interested bodies and
thousands of people..." but fails to explain what the
thousands said and what the nature of their submissions
were. Perhaps consultation is some kind of hollow
statutory process paid for by the taxpayer that the NRA
can ultimately ignore if it wishes?
An Bord Pleanála presumably only got one NRA
proposal to consider. Is this the case? I am shocked that
vast sums of taxpayers' money have been squandered on
costly full-page adverts in all the major newspapers in
order to browbeat and mislead the very citizens who paid
for it.
This is a gross abuse of public money, and the public is
at a loss to reply in kind. Who could put together an
instant fund of, say, €200,000 to reply in an equal
way? Has the NRA a legal right to use money voted by the
Dáil to build roads, in this way? If it has, this
loophole should be closed. I ask the NRA how much this
campaign cost, including the work of PR consultants? This
is a gross waste of taxpayers' money by the NRA and a
deliberately misleading campaign that has clearly been
exposed by a caring public.
My advice to the NRA is to stop digging and climb out of
the hole. Perhaps we should organise a campaign similar
to the Dublin Viking Wood Quay protest.
MICHAEL O'BRIEN,
Victoria Road,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
© The Irish Independent, 16th. December, 2004.
