Madam, - In light of the hullabaloo surrounding Tara and the M3 it is perhaps timely to examine some of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's remarks regarding the whole issue of heritage. While in Opposition he stated nobly: "It is imperative that no more of our irreplaceable national heritage be destroyed because of political inertia" (1996).
As Taoiseach he is on record as being annoyed about major road building projects being held up "because of swans, snails and the occasional person hanging out of a tree". In specific reference to Tara he made the asinine observation in November 2004 of how he'd stood on its route and "couldn't even see the hill from there".
Two months later, in January 2005, he compounded his ignorance by stating that the Tara/M3 controversy was merely "a row about who was there 5,000 years ago" and he didn't know the inhabitants of Tara but asserted that they must have been "very significant people".
In March 2005 while campaigning in local byelections in the Meath constituency he replied to those expressing reservations about the M3's mooted route with the admission that he didn't wish to upset Tara's kings and "if I had known they were there, I would've gone around them".
Hardly the epitome of erudition and about as incredible and inconsistent as his continued denial and obfuscation regarding the Mahon tribunal's investigation into his rather singular financial affairs. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6.
Madam, - The campaign to reroute the M3 away from Tara must not be the preserve of dedicated environmentalists and academic "activists". At stake is the heritage of Ireland. When is this "utilitarian" encroachment going to end? Imagine the outcry from Middle England if a motorway were planned to go through Stonehenge.
In the 1830s, George Petrie, a Protestant Irishman of recent Scottish ancestry, laboured to unearth the archaeological treasure that was Tara. His work demonstrated the advanced state which Irish society had reached in the far mists of time.
Is today's Irish society going to stand idly by and watch Petrie's "cultural nationalism", or pride in Irish civilisation, die out completely in the face of the Celtic Tiger, a beast with an often-ugly face and totally lacking in soul? - Yours, etc,
Dr PATRICK McWILLIAMS, Lurgan, Co Armagh.