M3 And Tara/Skryne Valley
11.10.03
(Editor, Meath Chronicle)
Dear sir - Look before you leap warns the ESRI in its mid-term evaluation of the National Development Plan's infrastructure projects.
Concerned about the high costs of building roads, the report calls for a cost benefit analysis to be undertaken 'before committing to investing in any project'.
Such an analysis should be initiated immediately 'while there is still time' in relation to sections of the proposed M3 Motorway, with particular reference to the damage and destruction the motorway will cause to the national heritage and the potentially enormous costs that will be incurred as a result.
The proposed (tolled) motorway will cut right through the Tara-Skryne valley, one of the richest archaeological landscapes in Europe, and threatening the integrity of one of Ireland's most famous and important archaeological and historical complexes, the Hill of Tara, a place of ritual and symbolic importance venerated by successive generations and peoples for thousands of years.
The archaeological implications of running a motorway through an area chock-a-block with monuments, visible and invisible, and the potential costs of resolving the archaeological dimension, were raised by many who made submissions to the oral hearing last year, including the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, and were spelled out in clear and concise terms by Conor Newman, the former director of the Discovery Programme's pioneering Tara Survey.
Incredibly these factors were totally ignored in An Bord Pleanála's decision. The proposal to route this section of the motorway through such an important archaeological landscape was flawed from the outset and it is the Irish people and the Irish taxpayers who will carry the costs.
Regrettably, the planners and consultants would seem to have taken no account of the initial archaeological assessment (1999), which strongly urged against taking the route through this valley and they would seem not to have learned the lessons of other road projects where costs have multiplied due to the underestimation of the archaeological heritage.
Even more regrettably, the heritage protection agencies would seem to have reneged on their responsibilities to fully protect our heritage, leaving it entirely to unresourced local groups and individuals to argue the case at the oral hearing.
I appeal to the government, Meath Co. Council and the NRA to revisit and reconsider this proposal. There are viable alternatives to bringing a motorway within a kilometre of the Hill of Tara - alternatives that would address the extremely urgent traffic and commuting needs of Meath without inflicting such irreversible damage on the national heritage and incurring such needless costs.
These should be examined in detail - now, while there is still time.
Yours sincerely,
JULITTA CLANCY,
Assistant secretary,
MAHS,
Parsonstown,
Batterstown.