Academics gather in Tara to protest at M3 route

Top academics from across the world gathered on the historic Hill of Tara in Co Meath today to highlight the reasons plans for…

Top academics from across the world gathered on the historic Hill of Tara in Co Meath today to highlight the reasons plans for the M3 motorway should be abandoned.

Several historical experts, who signed the massive petition calling on the Government to re-consider the proposed route of the M3, gathered at the site.

The group debated the site's inclusion in Ireland's ancient historical tales to show the significance of the former seat of the kings.

Dr Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, from the Dept of Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, said scholars made the trip to Tara as part of a conference on the Ulster Cycle of Literature organised by the college.

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Dr Ni Bhrolchain, who is a member of the Save the Tara Skryne Valley Group, has been calling for the new road route to be placed further away from the historic Hill of Tara.

The lecturer gathered academics from across Ireland, UK, US, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Croatia and Russia. Eminent academics attending the historic site during the conference of the Ulster Literary Cycle included Professor Tomas O'Cathasaigh, Henry L Shattuck Professor of Irish Studies at Harvard University, Professor Joseph F Nagy, from the Dept of English at the University of California.

Another US Anthropology Professor, Ronald Hicks, from Ball University in Indiana, Professor Ann Dooley, University of Toronto, Canada and Dr Charles Doherty, School of History, UCD were also due at the hill site.

The Ulster Literary Cycle contains a collection of heroic tales following the exploits of the ancient mythical men, who were buried at the ancient site of the Navan Fort near Armagh. It also includes the story of the 'Tain Bo Cuailnge', or 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley', which follows heroic Cu Chulainn, whose head and right hand were buried at Tara according to folklore.

Dr Ni Bhrolchain said the stories discussed went on to influence many literary giants including W B Yeats, Lady Gregory and revolutionary Patrick Pearse. The scholars were part of more than 200 academics who expressed their concern to Minister for the Environment Dick Roche over proposals for the controversial route last April.

University College Dublin-based academic Edel Breathnach had handed over the hard-hitting statement highlighting disappointment over the planned road route passing close to the Hill of Tara and including a major interchange at Blundlestown, near the site.

However, Mr Roche has given the go ahead for preliminary work to begin on the route. Consultant archaeologists for Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) have already begun preliminary work before the archaeological excavation of 38 sites on the proposed route.

PA