| Motormouth the word on motoring |
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| Written by Staff Reporter | ||||
| Thursday, 21 August 2008 | ||||
Page 1 of 2 Tarawatch, the campaign group who oppose the building of the new M3 motorway in County Meath because they say it adversely impacts on the Hill of Tara are throwing their toys out of the pram.
Obviously a bit annoyed that construction of the road is well underway despite their objections they are now set to oppose Tara being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You would expect these defenders of our ancient Gaelic heritage to applaud such a move but apparently they don’t. In other words “Whhaaaa, whaaaa, we’re not playing”. The Brown Party (sorry Green) Environment Minister John Gormley is set to apply for the designation shortly, but Tarawatch say that Ireland has been in breach of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention since it signed it in 1992 because of the state’s failure to nominate Tara before now. Their main gripe as put officially is that the motorway would “drastically diminish Tara’s integrity and value”. Of course there may be another reason. Designation may prompt some people to draw comparisons between Tara and other World Heritage Sites. Why would they be against such an exercise you may ask? Well for a start it may become apparent that many sites of much greater international significance than Tara are impinged upon by the modern world much more directly than Tara, be it by roads or simply being surrounded by urban sprawl. Examples include the pyramids at Giza which are surrounded on three sides by Cairo’s urban sprawl and traffic that would make the M3 look like a country lane, several pre-European sites in Mexico and Central America that are within two miles of major highways, Stonehenge in England (admittedly they are not happy about the road running right next to it), ancient Athens, ancient Rome and countless others. Perhaps of more significance for Tara however, designation would draw attention to just how little is known about it. Understanding of Tara is mostly circumstantial and mythical. Such sites generally are extensively excavated to establish, as far as we can, what they are and what their significance really is.
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