Motorway works at Tara
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Madam, - George Eogan (March 26th.) declares himself
"very disappointed" with the actions of Minister for the
Environment John Gormley regarding the Tara/M3/Rath Lugh
situation.
Frankly, I've long ago ceased being disappointed with the
unprincipled actions of Mr. Gormley and his party since
being effectively bought off upon entering
Government.
His Pontius Pilate routine regarding Tara has been quite
disingenuous as it's always been wholly within his power
to use existing legislation to have stopped the
motorway.
To watch someone, so resolutely opposed to this while on
the back benches, now actively facilitating the violation
of this landscape starkly exposes the vacuous core of Mr.
Gormley's party's so-called principles.
Professor Eogan - a distinguished retired archaeologist,
and one of Ireland's foremost experts on early Irish
sites - was one of many experts in this field who put on
record their opinion that the Government should not route
the motorway through the Gabhra Valley, as the area
constituted an entire archaeological complex.
In January 2005 Professor Eogan stated to the Oireachtas
Committee on the Environment that "to put something as
intrusive as a major roadway is very, very strange: I'd
go as far as to say a very odd decision".
A lot of the background to this situation is indeed
"odd".
Do people not consider the glaringly obvious question:
why were the Government, with the assistance of the NRA,
so doggedly determined to route this motorway through
this particular valley, in defiance of all the expert
advice, which said, quite categorically not to?
This was also done against all the protests and outrage,
both national and international, not to mention public
opinion. (An Irish Times poll in July 2007 showed 74 per
cent of people surveyed opposed the motorway as currently
routed.)
Do people not ask themselves why it was so vital to push
it through and vandalise irreparably this sacred
place?
Up until now the Wood Quay debacle, in the 1970s, which
destroyed a vital part of Viking Dublin, was the high
water mark for destruction of our national heritage.
I fear the Tara situation is now a lost battle, but
doesn't it show how 30 years of "progress" have brought
precious little enlightenment?
- Yours, etc,
David Marlborough,
Kenilworth Park,
Dublin.
© The Irish Times, 28th. March 2008.
Related Articles:
Motorway
works at Tara.
Presentation to Joint Committee on Environment &
Local Government.
