N3 "substantial national monument"

mr potato head

RTE news, Work stopped on N3 due to discovery of a substantial national monument.

Sounds very interesting, anyone heard any more about what was found so far to get such an instant reaction.

Riamfada

Could we be looking at the real palace at Tara? The Royal Site. According to Medieval Literature~?

Really wish I was in the know. Ill ask around the UCD Archaeology department tomorrow for any goss



Another , larger... Navan Fort


http://www.tarawatch.org/

ednwireland

site was found ages ago its just that its been declared a national monument so minister has to decide what to do about it and work stops until decision is made.

thats all wont stop anything for long esp. as load of archeologists sitting round waiting to set to.

Aedh Baclamh

That last sentence confused me.

Seth Brundle

ednwireland wrote:

site was found ages ago its just that its been declared a national monument so minister has to decide what to do about it and work stops until decision is made.

thats all wont stop anything for long esp. as load of archeologists sitting round waiting to set to.

The minister seeminly has decided! It shall be preserved by record and then bulldozed!
All in the name of progress! :rolleyes:

Crowhill

kbannon wrote:

preserved by record

destroyed by documentation is the phrase you are looking for methinks.

Riamfada

Well it will get thourougly excavated in the process , rather then bypassed and just left there to fade away like like the Viking Longphort ?? site at Woodstown in Waterford. It wont be preserved but our understanding of Iron Age (yes I believe its iron age) ritual and kingship around the Tara / Skreen Valley will be greatly altered.

Went out to the site last night but it was dark. Boo.

magicbastarder

kbannon wrote:

The minister seeminly has decided! It shall be preserved by record and then bulldozed!

has there been an official announcement of this decision?

Seth Brundle

not yet. These are unsubstantiated reports coming through from the DoE

katarin

From Rte.ie
The new Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, has said legal advice from the Attorney General's office confirms that he has no authority to overturn the decision to allow the M3 motorway to be built over an archaeological site.


Opposition parties had claimed the Mr Gormley does have the power to over-turn the decision.

This morning, Mr Gormley said his initial view was he was not going to be able to do anything about his predecessor's decisions, despite his commitment to protecting heritage.

AdvertisementHe said he will review the documentation and talk with the Director of the National Museum before giving his definitive announcement.

However, Labour's Eamon Gilmore has said Mr Gormley does have the power to revoke Mr Roche's order, under section 22 of the Interpretation Act 2005.

Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd charged that the reason Minister Gormley had not done it was because he was politically emasculated by his new Fianna Fáil masters.

It has been a tough first day at the office for the Green Party Chairman as this heritage row overshadows his new Ministerial position.

Just before clearing his desk, Mr Roche, the outgoing Minister, signed an order which allowed a National Monument near Tara to be studied and then destroyed to make way for the M3.


Mr Roche has defended his last-minute decision, saying he read the documentation, consulted widely and took the appropriate decision.

Minister Roche said it would have been a discourtesy to hand over a difficult decision as it amounted to passing the buck.

Mr Gormley said he was committed to protecting Ireland's heritage and would have an open door to like-minded people.

Green TD Ciarán Cuffe has said he was upset by Mr Roche's decision and expressed his hope that Mr Gormley can now reverse it.

Meath Archaeological and Historical Society spokeswoman, Julitta Clancy, said it may not be too late to change the contract to allow the re-routing of the motorway.

She added contracts should allow ministers this flexibility.

If the decision stands, work on the M3 at Lismullen will not resume for some time until the archaeological work is complete.

Work on other parts of the motorway will continue as normal.

dunno about anyone else but I'm delighted.
Gormley's not an idiot - he won't try to undo the order - and even if he tries, the Director of the Museum'll set him straight.

These do-gooders are doing my head in. Especially those calling for re-routing the road. I mean - whats better? No investigation of any of the monuments? Or investigation and recording for posterity. Granted, it's unfortunate, but it's the lesser of the two that the road should go ahead and the sites thoroughly excavated in the meantime.

funky penguin

I don't really want to take a stance on this yet until the site is fully excavated.

If I'm honest, I'm not liking this decision, but I'll wait and see what is found.

Riamfada

this might be of interest

Lismullen report

Fletch123

The News wrote:

Dr. Conor Newman to serve on special committee for National Monument at Lismullin


27/06/07

Mr. John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, today (27th June ‘07) announced that Dr. Conor Newman of the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway has agreed to join a special committee which has been set up to advise on how to ensure that the archaeological excavation of the national monument at Lismullin is carried out to the highest and most transparent standard. Dr. Newman directed the Discovery Programme’s Tara Survey and is widely recognised as a leading expert on the archaeology of Tara and the 'royal' sites of later prehistoric Ireland. The Committee has been set up on the recommendation of Dr. Pat Wallace, Director of the National Museum.

“The National Monuments Service of my Department, the National Museum, the National Roads Authority and Professor Gabriel Cooney of the School of Archaeology, UCD are also represented on the committee”, said Minister Gormley.

“The committee met for the first time today and will advise on the conduct of the archaeological investigations to be carried in relation to the monument. The committee will also provide advice on the publication and dissemination of the results of the excavations. The committee will continue to meet on a regular basis over the course of the excavation of the monument”, concluded the Minister.

At least someone qualified will now be working on it...

Seth Brundle

...just before its bulldozed!

katarin

theres nothing discernable left that anyone will miss when it's bulldozed.