"Save Tara" campaigners yesterday appealed for bulldozers to withdraw from senstive sites at least until a new government is formed.
They said they were dismayed yesterday when construction workers "backfilled" medieval Collierstown cemetery in preparation for the new M3 motorway in Co Meath. They said diggers also attempted to fill in the Baronstown site which spans approximately two acres, but this had to be called off when campaigners refused to "give ground".
The campaigners believe the Gabhra Valley should be preserved and left untouched at least until the make-up of the new government has been finalised.
Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin of Campaign to Save Tara said: "The Green Party and Labour committed to preserving the site, and several Independents could also be brought on board. We plan to talk to everybody involved within the next fortnight."
However, Mary Deevy, archaeologist for the National Roads Authority (NRA), said "From my understanding, construction workers are perfectly entitled to work everywhere on the proposed scheme from an archaeological point of view, excluding the Lismullin section.
"We leave archaeological sites for as long as possible in case another expert wants to look at them. However, we had fully finished all our work at Collierstown . . . it had been excavated extensively for months.
The construction company was free to carry out work there and from a health and safety viewpoint, the very deep ditches surrounding the cemetery posed a risk," Ms Deevy said.