Construção de uma auto-estrada na Irlanda é um crime contra a Humanidade

Plans to build a motorway close to one of Ireland's most historic sites have been attacked by campaigners as "a crime against humanity".

The Hill of Tara and its ancient burial site in County Meath is Ireland's equivalent of the Valley of the Dead in Egypt, campaigners have said.

Environmentalists and historians have called for the proposed M3 motorway to be stopped.

The proposed route will take the motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley.

'Historical significance'

The road will be largely along the current Enniskillen to Dublin road, north-west of the capital.
Tara, known as Temair in Gaeilge, was once the ancient seat of power in Ireland - 142 kings are said to have reigned there in prehistoric and historic times.
In ancient Irish religion and mythology Temair was the sacred place of dwelling for the gods, and was the entrance to the otherworld.
Dr Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, lecturer in Celtic Studies at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, said that Tara was a monument of massive importance.
She said: "The historical significance of Tara is that it is 6,000 years old.
"It has been inhabited by the kings of Ireland, as far as we know, and by the most important inhabitants of Ireland for that period of time.
"The king of Tara would have been considered the most important king of Ireland up until the 11th or 12th century."
Archaeologists say the nine-mile stretch of motorway will mean the excavation of at least 28 sites and monuments in the road's corridor.
They expect many more sites will be affected, with 48 archaeological zones within 500 metres of the road corridor and about one site every 300 metres along the road itself.

Vincent Salafia from Save the Tara-Skryne Valley campaign has vowed to make a legal challenge against the motorway.
He said: "This is a crime against humanity

The Hill of Tara is our most important national monument. Even the name worldwide evokes the spirit and soul of Ireland.

"It is not just the motorway we are objecting to. Everything that comes with the motorway will turn this area into an industrial area."
The planning appeals board (An Bord Pleanála) took archaeological objections into account when it gave its permission for the project
The National Roads Authority said the motorway was needed because it can currently take up to two hours to travel the 25 miles between Navan and Dublin.

Environmental effect

Michael Egan from the NRA said that the road would be twice as far from the hill as the current Dublin to Navan road.
He said it would be 1.5 miles from the top of the hill to the motorway.
"The board gave its approval to proceed with the construction of the road on the basis that it concluded that the road would not have significant environmental effect and would not impact on the hill of Tara," he said.
Work on the motorway is due to start in 2005 and finish three years later.
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Petição contra o projecto de construção desta auto-estrada na Irlanda
extraído de: http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara/petition.html


To: Prime Minister of Ireland, Mr …

Dear Prime Minister,

I object the planned routing of the M3 motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley, and the resulting despoilment this will cause to Ireland’s oldest and most revered national monument.
The archaeological importance of this area is beyond question. After seven years surveying the Hill of Tara and its 80km² hinterland as director of the government funded Discovery Programme, Conor Newman said: “Tara is one of the most important and famous archaeological complexes in the world.… all of our researches point to the valley between Tara and Skryne as an area of paramount importance throughout the history of Tara.”
More recently, 12 eminent Irish historians and archaeologists in letters to the Irish Independent and The Examiner wrote: “The Hill of Tara constitutes the heart and Soul of Ireland. Its very name invokes the spirit and mystique of our people and is instantly recognisable worldwide. The plan approved recently by An Bord Pleanála for the M3 motorway to dissect the Tara-Skryne valley, Ireland's premier national monument, spells out a massive national and international tragedy that must be averted.”
Can anyone doubt the profound cultural importance of Tara and its unique landscape? A landscape honoured and revered by millions throughout the world today and countless generations of Irish people gone before us. Nowhere else in Ireland is there a landscape that can claim the Tuatha de Danann, Celtic Gods and Goddesses, St. Patrick, Daniel O’Connell, Thomas Moore, heroes and High Kings from Fionn MacCumhail to Brian Boru, an archaeological complex of temples, tombs, enclosures and henges spanning five millennia, and a continuous place at the centre of Irish spiritual, cultural, political and literary history, as part of it’s fabric.
Yet it is through the very heart of this landscape, that Meath County Council, the NRA and the Irish Government wish to build a motorway, which will impact at least 141 known sites. According to Dr Conor Newman, this is just “the tip of the iceberg”.
Roads, of course, are necessary to relieving the nightmare of traffic congestion. However, in the absence of any plans to improve the Navan Road/M50 roundabout, the M3 project will not relieve congestion, it will merely move it from one place to another; plugging the worst bottleneck between Navan and Dublin even tighter. Spending €680m on an ineffectual motorway that will ruin Tara forever, cannot be described as progress; rather it constitutes wanton vandalism on a grand scale.
The National Roads Authority has released an estimate of €20m to excavate the route of the M3. I believe this figure could be closer to €100m, since there are more than likely so many monuments yet to be discovered, due to a low-grade geophysical survey carried out during the EIS. I strongly object to this amount of Irish taxpayers money being used to dig up our prize national monument, and other national monuments all around the country, especially in light of the recent High Court finding that heritage protection regulations enacted by your Government are unconstitutional.
And so I am moved to ask you three questions:
1). The M3 plans include the construction of a 34 acre floodlit intersection (Blundelstown) a mere 1,090 meters from the Hill of Tara’s core zone (as defined by OPW); what has, or will, your Office do to preserve the national monument of Tara from this permanent defacement?
2). Why are the people of Ireland being asked to pay €1.3 billion (via toll charges and taxes) for a project estimated at €64, but which cannot demonstrably relieve congestion, will lead to more violations of the Kyoto agreement, and will damage our national heritage irretrievably?
3). What will your Office do to urge re-consideration of the currently approved route for the M3, and/or to engage in a process of generating alternative effective solutions to the very real problem of traffic congestion in the area, such as reopening the Dublin to Navan railroad?

I look forward to your reply, and in the meantime urge you, in your capacity as Taoiseach to oppose the imminent despoilment of Tara by the M3 motorway, and to do all you can in working for the reversal of this disastrous decision.

Sincerely,