The inclusion of Tara on the World Monuments Fund list of 100 most endangered sites in the world, and the current negotiations for a government are a very timely coincidence, the conservation group Tara Watch said yesterday.
Group spokesman Vincent Salafia said the Green Party, which yesterday broke off talks with Fianna Fáil on forming a government, had given commitments to re-route the M3 motorway. He said the listing of Tara as an endangered heritage site would remind members of the potential government of the significance and international interest in Tara.
He said World Monument Fund personnel had little hesitation in listing Tara as endangered and said its preservation marked one of the most significant challenges for the organisation worldwide.
The Heritage Protection Alliance of Ireland also marked the listing of Tara by issuing a call for new heritage legislation to be introduced by the incoming government.
A spokesman said the "naming and shaming" was not an aberration.
He said the Government had been criticised for its heritage policy on Trim Castle, the Woodstown Viking site in Co Waterford, Carrickmines Castle in south Dublin, Carrigaphooca in Co Cork and Thornton in north Co Dublin.
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