A chara, – In your report on the opening of the M3 motorway (Home News, June 4th) a spokesman for the National Roads Authority is reported as inviting motorists to drive past Tara to “see what the fuss was all about”.
There is a slight problem with this viewing, as many of the historical sites in the Skryne valley were bulldozed and are now under tar and filling. Work for the motorway uncovered substantial ringforts at Baronstown and Collierstown, to name but two. In the view of respected archaeologists, these formed a part of a complex of major historical and religious sites tretching from Tara to the Newgrange/Brú na Bóinne complex. These ringforts and other monuments were destroyed as the motorway was laid down.
Your map of the route in the same report eloquently states the case: the M3 departs from its northwestern axis to swing through the rich historical landscape of the Tara-Skryne valley. Why this was done rather than routing the motorway west of Tara is perhaps known to the NRA and our great Celtic Tiger “developers”.
The wilful destruction of major archaelogical remains which this brought about was a typical gesture of the hubris of the Tiger years – we were no longer held back by our history, we live in the present and need take no heed of where we came from, and in accordance with liberal dogma, public land assets were delivered into private hands (for tolling in this case).
Talk from Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey of a proud day in a “county steeped in history” (Home News, June 5th) sits uneasily with the fact that N3 works, under successive administrations of which he was part, ensured the destruction of part of this same history. – Is mise,
Madam, – I bow to no one in my respect and commitment to the preservation of our cultural heritage. I do not, however, live in the past, as many do. I prefer to develop the country’s infrastructure to the level a modern state requires to enable it to compete in today’s competitive world.
I have no doubt that the new M3 will, if anything, enhance the journey to the northwest, opening up the vistas formerly concealed by the unmanaged hedgerows of Co Meath. This will lead to a greater appreciation of the beautiful countryside along the route.
Surely a fair balance has been struck between the comfort and safety of many thousands of frustrated commuters, and the retention and preservation of important cultural and historic reference points? – Yours, etc,