Sir, - Duchas, the State body responsible for protection of Irish heritage, is currently running a major publicity campaign encouraging us to buy tickets (£6 to £36 in price) which allow us to visit a number of the sites under its control. It is also in the news because it has been offered a carpark in exchange for a decision not to appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the plan to build a 105-bed hotel, 475 houses, an 18-hole golf course and "a Champneys-style health spa" on the early medieval settlement of Durrow, Co Offaly. At least, one must assume the car-park was its priority since the Church of Ireland had already given the State the area of the graveyard in 1994 (although, according to the Tullamore Tribune of April 18th, 1998, the officials subsequently allowed their claim to lapse).
The civil servants of this Department would seem to harbour a grudge of some sort against St Colmcille; three years ago, when the citizens of both Ireland and Scotland were celebrating the 1400th anniversary of the saint's death, the predecessor of Duchas marked the occasion by a "misunderstanding" which was the direct cause of the destruction of key monuments at Teltown: the national assembly site of the high-kings of Tara where Colmcille was excommunicated before his departure to Scotland.
As Dr Patrick Wallace of the National Museum (and ex-director of the excavations at Wood Quay) has pointed out, the Supreme Court has ruled that the right of the State to protect historic monuments for the common good takes precedence over the rights of developers. And as the Minister for Arts, Culture, Gaeltacht and the islands has recently reminded us, our cultural heritage belongs to all of us.
If there are Irish citizens interested in the past who are unhappy at the notion of Durrow being the site of what the developer himself compares to a modern Dublin housing estate "with that extra touch", it is our responsibility to make our views known to her Department. And do not worry: the rationale behind the Department's actions might occasionally seem less than completely transparent to outsiders but its "Quality Customer Service Action Plan" identifies the Irish public as the most important group among its customers (p19) and promises (p23) to reply to all correspondence within 20 working days. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Catherine Swift, Hacketstown, Co Carlow.