Just 24 hours after Minister for Transport Martin Cullen turned the sod on the €850 million M3 motorway in Co Meath it has been confirmed that a site of archaeological importance has been discovered.
The large circular enclosure is clearly visible on a hillside at Lismullen in the Tara-Skryne valley. It most probably would have been used for rituals in either the Iron Age or Bronze Age. The motorway would pass through it.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche is consulting Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum, after the National Monuments Service inspected the site. It is understood that Mr Wallace will respond to the Minister on the submission from the National Monuments Service by the end of this week.
A spokesman for Mr Roche yesterday confirmed that at the moment "no works which would interfere with the monument may be carried out, except works urgently required to secure its preservation, carried out in accordance with measures specified by the Minister".
The spokesman said: "In this instance, the archaeological team was authorised to continue to clean back the surface of the area, to complete a plan of the features and to check for associated features outside the enclosure. A small number of the stakeholes are also to be excavated to try to recover sufficient material for radiocarbon dating.
"No further excavation of the enclosure will take place pending the decision of the Minister on any directions to issue in relation to the monument."
Attempts are now under way to have work on the 60km road stopped. The TaraWatch group, which has been campaigning for the motorway to be kept away from the historic valley, said it was now "legally incumbent on the Minister to halt works, place a preservation order on the site and reroute the M3 motorway like he did in Waterford in 2005 when he rerouted the N25 to avoid a large Viking site in Woodstown".
The group has sent solicitor's letters to the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for Transport, Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority asking that all works on the site cease immediately. Its spokesman, Vincent Salafia, said: "This site is a show-stopper and is without doubt a national monument of world significance. It would be a sin to demolish it. Legal and expert advice is being taken with a view to seeking an interlocutory injunction in order to secure the site before it can be demolished."
This is the first ancient site to be found along the motorway route. It did not appear in any of the extensive tests carried out in advance of the project.
The Meath Archaeological and Historical Group said that the discovery was "unique" in the area. The group had concerns about the "unseeming haste" in trying to complete excavations at the Tara-Skryne valley. It added: "We were promised no work would begin on the road until they [ excavations] were all complete and that promise has been broken."
The National Roads Authority said it was liaising with the department and the National Museum.