Hill of Tara campaigners march against M3 route

Campaigners against the proposed new M3 motorway are marching in Co Meath to voice their opposition to the section of the road that will run close to the Hill of Tara.

The march in Navan has been organised by the Save Tara-Skryne Valley Campaign, which says it aims to "create awareness throughout Ireland and internationally that the Tara Valley will be needlessly destroyed by the proposed M3".

The 60km motorway from Clonee to Kells will bypass the busy commuter towns of Dunshaughlin and Navan. It will cover around 700 hectares of land and includes 50km of ancillary and access roads.

Part of the motorway will run close to the Hill of Tara, the historic seat of the High Kings. While the National Roads Authority insists that the planned M3 will in fact be further away from the Hill of Tara than the existing N3 route, campaigners say the Tara site covers a much wider, unexplored area than the hill itself. They want the entire site preserved.

Lawyer Vincent Salafia, a supporter of the campaign for an alternative M3 route, recently decided not to pursue an appeal against a High Court decision dismissing his case against the chosen route.

Archaeological excavations are currently underway along the route of the planned M3.

The existing National Primary N3 Dublin to Cavan road is one of the principal routes linking Dublin to the north west and the National Roads Authority insists it is inadequate to meet current and future infrastructure needs.

Former arts and heritage minister Michael D Higgins described Minister for the Environment Dick Roche's approval for the M3 as "an appalling decision which will affect...generations to come".

The campaign group TaraWatch is hosting a series of lectures entitled Tara of the Kings at 12 noon each Saturday at the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) Merrion Square in Dublin.

The series will be edited by Pulitzer Prize-winner Professor Paul Muldoon, of Princeton University.

Aideen Ireland, President of RSAI said: "Over one hundred years ago this Society campaigned vigorously to have ill considered excavations by the British-Israelites on the Hill of Tara stopped. On that occasion the excavations ceased and the site was preserved. It would be a scandal if Tara, saved on that occasion, were now to be sacrificed in the interests of short-term progress."