Looks like the road in the area of the Hill of Tara will be built afterall. From the Japan Times on-line is a piece (more an opinion than an objective news column) on this tragic development (NPI).
The article is called "A road to ancient history's ruin" by Stephen Hesse. Some extracts:
Not just one or two historical sites, but demolition on a grand scale: a 60-km, four-lane motorway that will condemn 700 hectares of land to development, including at least 156 known archaeological sites ranging from burial sites and buildings to settlements.
The motorway, known as the M3, is projected to run between Clonee and Kells and will supplement the N3, a two-lane road that runs through County Meath, just northwest of Dublin. Inevitably the M3 will also bring increased traffic, mounting air pollution, urban sprawl — and even more development.
This kind of thing is far worse than the old observation tower at Gettysburg, which could be–and was–torn down. The road once built will never be abandoned. Do the Irish not know how much their economy is based on tourism? To trash their heritiage to save another 15 minutes on the way to work each day is more than a shame, its stupid. We in the US know only too well how sprawl or "progress" trashes our landscapes and history. One need only look at Manassas, or the Civil War battlefields around Fredericksburg, VA to see it.
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