Tara Facts by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain

“For the most part people did not live on Tara; they buried their dead
there and built temples. They lived, instead, in the immediate hinterland,
in the shadow of their sacred mountain.” (Conor Newman, former director,
the Discovery Programme)

Proposal for the M3 in Meath
An Bord Pleanála approved the route of the M3 6-lane motorway in August
2003 and a campaign to reverse the decision began. The initial proposal was
to upgrade the existing N3 and bypass the towns of Dunshaughlin, Navan and
Kells but an existing road cannot be tolled. The motorway includes 2 tolls
and a floodlit 53-acre interchange 1500m from the top of the Hill of Tara
at Blundelstown. The width of this type of motorway is 27 metres but the
actual land take could be double that figure. The width and proximity can
be seen by a visit to the N3 just beyond the entrance to Tara. Fears that
development would follow have been confirmed with the first planning
applications being lodged.
In 2004 the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Meath County Council
(MCC) employed an archaeological company to carry out test-trenching and 38
sites were found in the section between Navan and Dunshaughlin.
In May 2005 the Minister for the Environment gave directions under the
National Monuments Act 2004 for the excavation and removal of these sites
against the advice of the director of the National Museum and leading
archaeological experts worldwide. He could have refused according to a
previous minister, Michael D. Higgins. He set up Dúchas and with a new act
this gave Irish heritage the best protection in Europe. This Government
dismantled Dúchas and amended the act.
The NRA and the Government present us who object to the present route as
a minority; the only independent survey, carried out by RedC, found that
70% of people said that they wanted the road rerouted out of the Valley.
The NRA spend hundreds of thousand of euro on propaganda – a booklet to
every house in Meath, full page newspaper advertisements and a huge folder
and DVD posted all over the world.

Route selection
Six primary routes were presented to choose from, two outside and four
inside the Valley between Tara and Skryne. The NRA and MCC ignored the
advice of experts at the time and still downplay the enormity of the sites
on the chosen route. No geophysical survey was done on the other routes
suggesting that they never seriously considered another choice. Tara is
recognised as having a number of defensive outposts including one called
Rath Lugh and the present route divides it from Tara.
The archaeological company owned by Margaret Gowen Ltd. said:
“The monuments around Tara cannot be viewed in isolation, or as individual
sites, but must be seen in the context of an intact archaeological
landscape, which should not under any circumstances be disturbed, in terms
of visual or direct impact on the monuments themselves” (N3 Navan to
Dunshaughlin Route Selection, August 2000, paragraph 7.3)
The same company advised the route selection company, Halcrow Barry:
“It would be virtually impossible to underestimate the importance or the
sensitivity of the archaeological and historical landscape in this area”
(Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd., N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Route Selection:
Archaeology, August 2000, 3.1).
The Environmental Impact Statement said: ‘this section of the N3 runs
through one of the richest and best known archaeological landscapes in
Europe’(Vol.4A p.165).
This concern was seen from as far back as 1999 in V.J. Keeley Ltd.’s
Archaeological Assessment Paper Survey, Preliminary Area of Interest N3
Dunshaughlin North to Navan West, Co. Meath where it is reported that:
“In addition to being highly visible from the Hill of Tara, the route
passes through the archaeologically sensitive landscape of the stream
valley (ibid., 6.5.1.). No mitigation would remove the effects of this
route on the Hill of Tara or on its outlying monuments. It would have
extremely severe implications from an archaeological perspective.”
The routes became known by their colours on the map, and the so-called Pink
route running to the east of the TaraSkryne Valley and the original
preferable route, was regarded as the ‘least intrusive’ and would have no
archaeological impact. The chosen Blue route was recognised as having the
highest number of archaeological sites; the engineer said the three
criteria used were engineering, economics (Cost Benefit Analysis) and the
environment of which archaeology was only a sub-section.

Tara and the Gabhra Valley
The archaeological importance of Tara and the Valley is obvious but Tara
was also the principal site of Irish ritual kingship. The god Lug claimed
kingship of the Tuatha Dé Danann on top of the Hill, Cú Chulainn’s head and
right arm are said to be buried there. Cormac mac Airt built Skryne
(originally Achall) when he lost an eye and could no longer live in Tara.
The last battle of the Fianna, the Battle of Gabhra, occurred in the Valley
where Cormac’s son was killed and buried. King Laegaire confronted St
Patrick at Tara when the first Christians arrived in Ireland.
In 1992 Charles Haughey set up the Discovery Programme and the first
area chosen for study was Tara. Three experts, Dr Edel Bhreathnach
(historian), Conor Newman and Joe Fenwick (archaeologists) were employed to
carry out a unique research project. In 1953 Eamon de Valera turned the
first sod on the excavations carried out by Séan Ó Ríordáin; the
Taoiseach’s son Ruaidhrí de Valera continued this work. Minister Síle de
Valera turned the first sod on the Discovery Programme’s excavations in
1997.
The three experts said in a statement (2004):
“This is a unique landscape ought to be subject to the highest level of
protection. Any surveying or excavation undertaken should happen only as
part of a well thought-out research plan … Clearing archaeological sites
from the path of a motorway does not constitute a research plan … Visible
monuments such as Rath Lugh which form clear confirmation of the ceremonial
complex of Tara will be left stranded on the side of a motorway.”
At the Oral Hearing, the archaeological expert on Tara, Conor Newman
said:
“The Hill of Tara is one of the most important and famous archaeological
complexes in the world … This is not hyperbole, it is a statement of fact.”
He also said:
“The Hill of Tara represents the ritual and political core of a far larger
territory or landscape. It cannot be regarded, or treated of, in isolation
from this broader landscape because this would be to divorce it from its
cultural and geographical context. For the most part people did not live on
Tara; they buried their dead there and built temples. They lived, instead,
in the immediate hinterland, in the shadow of their sacred mountain.”

Tara - a touchstone for later historical campaigns
Aodh Ó Néill, who was considered a national leader in 1599, visited Tara
for a victory assembly. Even earlier, in 1527 another leader Ó Conchobhair
went to Tara to symbolically shoe his horse. The Lord Deputy Sidney, in
1570, asked the Anglo-Irish lords to assemble at Tara and the Meath gentry
gathered there during the 1641 rebellion. There was a battle near Tara
during the 1798 rising; some of the dead were buried on the Hill. Daniel
O’Connell held a monster meeting there 15th August 1843 and said: "We are
standing upon Tara of the Kings … This was emphatically the spot from which
emanated every social power and legal authority by which the force of the
entire country was concentrated for national defence."
For a number of years after 1899, the British Israelites looked for and
received permission to dig on the Hill as they believed that the Ark of the
Covenant was buried there. A letter was sent to the Times in London by
Douglas Hyde, George Moore and W.B. Yeats that said: “Tara is, because of
its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its
destruction will leave many bitter memories”. Not since then has there been
such a threat to Tara.

Legalities and Ministers
A court case taken in January 2006 failed, affidavits were dismissed and
oral evidence was not admitted. A previous judgement on Tara was made in
1972 when Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said: “The
expression ‘national monument’ means a monument or the remains of a
monument, the preservation of which, is a matter of national importance by
reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic, or
archaeological interest. A monument, among other things, is anything that
by its survival commemorates a person, action or event.”
European petitions and complaints have been lodged and some are still
outstanding but even they seem to be powerless.

Archaeological work and methods
There were 38 sites discovered in the section between Dunshaughlin and
Navan by a method known as test-trenching where the soil is stripped back
by mechanical diggers. A more precise way to do this work is to use a
Geophysical Survey that is much less invasive. The areas between those
chosen for test-trenching were not properly tested and their archaeological
content is as yet unknown. Despite the opinion of the Director of the
National Museum that mechanical diggers should not be used on the sites
they are being used throughout. In his 18-page advice to the Minister he
said that sites were being downgraded: “This almost amounts to the
re-definition of a monument type in non-monument terms. In many other
instances there is a lack of archaeological detail – even in summarised
form - in the Resolution Documents relative to that provided in the
testing reports. For example in the case of Baronstown 1, Bronze Age
material uncovered during testing is not mentioned in the resolution
document. Little or no attempt seems to have been made to interpret the
sites as opposed to describing isolated features.”
The omission of such finds is quite sinister in the context of the
rumours that emerge from sites about artefacts that are covered up and
hidden. Couple this with the chilling sentence in the Chief State
Archaeologist’s letter to the Minister: “It could be argued that the M3
will be a monument of major significance in the future and be seen as a
continuation of the pattern of route development through the valley.”

Alternatives
The alternative routes were not seriously considered, neither was the
re-opening of the existing railway line nor the widening of the N3. The
motorway leads to the M50 at Blanchardstown – the NRA admits that the new
M50 will fill up immediately. If the new outer orbital route is built there
will be no need for the M3. Another choice is linking the existing road to
the upgraded N2.

Supporters
The Irish Times and Sunday Tribune published against the route.
Thousands signed the online petition and wrote to the Minister for the
Environment and to the Transport and Environment committees. A march was
held in Dublin (2004) and another in Navan (2006). Hundreds of letters and
articles have appeared in papers from American to Japan, group letters were
signed, one by 30 academics in April 2004, the American Institute of
Archaeologists, another signed by 22 archaeologists based in England,
Scotland and Wales. A statement signed by 320 academics was presented to
the Government in 2005 just before the Minister made his decision; names
are still being added. Sam Green of the Landmarks Trust wrote a letter to
the paper and John Bruton, ex-leader of Fine Gael, said in a letter to the
NRA: “It is undoubtedly the case that the proposed scheme did go through
all of the analysis and procedures … But that does not mean that this is
the right decision. It just means that it went through the right
procedures.”
The Meath Archaeological and Historical Society objected at the Oral
Hearing. Writers signed the academic statement including Frank McGuinness,
Gabriel Rosenstock, Paul Muldoon (who donated a poem), Seamus Deane, Colm
Tóibín, Joe O’Connor and Colum McCann. Stuart Townsend supported the
campaign; the Artists 4 Tara exhibition of 2004 included pieces by Jim
Fitzpatrick who donated the use of a painting. Others who want to save Tara
include Alan Stanford, Nuala O’Faolain, Rossa Ó Snodaigh, Pádraigín Ní
Uallacháin and Coscán wrote a song for Tara. All the main heritage groups
spoke against it: the director of the National Museum, the Royal Society
of Antiquaries of Ireland, the Heritage Council, the Discovery Programme
and the European Association of Archaeologists. The President of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians signed the on-line petition 2004.

The stance of political parties
The Labour Party tabled a private motion on Tara (November 2004); the
Senate also tabled a debate in 2004. Sinn Féin, the Greens and Labour have
come out against the route as well as Seán Haughey (FF) and independent TDs
and senators Maurice Hayes, David Norris, Shane Ross, Joe O’Toole, Joe
Higgins, Tony Gregory and Proinsias de Rossa MEP.

Present situation
The most recent developments include the Oral Hearing on Tolls in early
January but the minutes are still unavailable although the contracts for
the M3 were signed 7th March 2007.
Since June 2006 there has been a Tara Solidarity Vigil on the Hill and a
new umbrella grouping has emerged – the Campaign to Save Tara. Protests
take place every Friday afternoon from 3pm at Blundelstown.
Tara was put forward by Tarawatch for inclusion on the 100 most
endangered sites in the world - a decision will be made later this year.
In the election, the public should vote for pro-Tara candidates but the
signing of the PPP makes it difficult to interfere with the chosen route.

More information http://www.savetara.com