An eminent archaeologist who oversaw previous archaeological work on Tara as part of a Government research programme has described the decision to route the M3 motorway through the Tara/Skryne valley as "strange and odd", and said the current route should be changed.
Prof George Eogan, a retired archaeologist who is considered to be one of the foremost experts on Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Ireland, told the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment that the route was cutting through an area that experts viewed as part of the Tara complex.
He told the committee that with Tara "we're not just dealing with a hilltop, we're dealing with an entire area", which he said stretched for three miles from the hill, all of which he believed should be preserved and untouched.
"The crucial area is a tiny area," said Prof Eogan, who was chairman of the Government's Discovery Programme in the early 1990s, which researched the Tara site.
Describing Tara as "a very very notable site", Prof Eogan said there were references to it dating back 1,000 years.
"To put something as intrusive as a major roadway is very very strange; even I'd go as far as to say a very odd decision."
In a series of presentations to the committee, groups campaigning for a rerouting of the road away from the valley claimed that the current route would destroy the wider Tara site and that, contrary to claims by the authority, the current road went straight through it.
The Meath Archaeological and Historical Society claimed that at a previous committee hearing, the National Roads Authority provided inaccurate and misleading information which downplayed the significance of archaeology along the route through the Tara/Skryne valley.
Ms Julitta Clancy said in June the authority claimed that five archaeological sites were impacted along the valley, whereas less than three months later a report confirmed 38 sites.
She said that the group was "not opposed to the motorway".
"We are opposed to its routing through the Tara landscape which should be preserved for future generations," she added.
Dr Edel Bhreathnach, one of three academics who have researched Tara for 14 years, said the route cut through the royal demense of Tara, and that it would "destroy this immensely important landscape and this destruction will be irrevocable".
She said that if the project proceeded as planned, the Government faced significant extra costs because of delays due to archaeological excavations, European interventions and "lengthy court actions".
"The controversy ensuing from a decision to adhere to the present route will be unprecedented and protracted," she said. "It will undermine Ireland's credibility as custodians of our shared European heritage."
The committee is due to send a report outlining recommendations to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche. Under the national monuments legislation, he is required to make directions on how the archaeological sites are to be dealt with.
If he refuses to issue licences for their excavation and destruction, the NRA will be forced to seek an alternative route around the valley.