Letter about the sacred Tara landscape

international | miscellaneous | other press

Wednesday May 04, 2005 12:55

by watcher

Letter to The Irish Times from sacred sites group.

TARA AND THE M3 MOTORWAY

Madam, - The Landmarks Foundation is a New York-based organisation with the mission of conserving sacred sites and landscapes around the world. Over the years we have successfully intervened and protected the great statues on Easter Island and other threatened sites in South and Central America, Bhutan, India and Turkey.

We have been aware for some time that a plan had been mooted by the National Roads Authority in Ireland to run a motorway through the sacred landscape of Tara. A belief that such an invasion was impossible has kept us from voicing our opinion up to now. This belief was based on knowing that Ireland, of all the countries in the world, treasures its sacred sites and would protect them against all threats from whatever source.

We were also aware that an independent watchdog named Dúchas existed to reinforce the protection of Ireland's great and proud heritage.

We cannot find words to describe our horror at learning that your country is actually planning to go ahead with the construction of this invasive motorway with its accompanying hideousness and that all appeals to reason have been dismissed out of hand. "But where," we asked, "is Dúchas, the independent protecting body that was established to guard against such desecration?" Abolished, we are told, abolished for being too effective and for making decisions that actually reinforced its position as an independent body.

Disbelief was heaped upon horror when we read that your Taoiseach has been quoted as saying, "I don't know who was there five thousand years ago, and I'm sure they were very significant people, but somewhere along the way you have to come to an end of a process." And another politician has called for bulldozers and not archaeologists with tablespoons to be brought to the sacred lands.

What are these politicians up to? Are they not to be compared to the Taliban, who erased their past with dynamite and destroyed forever the important Bamiyan Buddhas in their country? Where is the famed Irish national pride, the great national spirit? Are you sacrificing everything to Mammon, the god of greed?

The need for motorways is less than a century old. The sacredness of the landscape at Tara has been of fundamental national importance for 5,000 years. The proposed roadway will probably be obsolete in less than a century, and the contemptuous politicians dead. The destruction of one of Ireland's treasures and one of the world's historical monuments will last forever.

Have all alternatives really been exhausted? At this late stage we can only pray that common sense will prevail and that a compromise route will be found for a motorway which, we are assured, is needed. This is not just an Irish issue. The world is in awe of Tara, the world reveres Tara. The world is watching with disbelief. - Yours, etc,

SAM GREEN, Director, Landmarks Foundation, East 75th Street, New York, USA.

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Comments (5 of 5)

'i'm dick fucking roche'

by photoshopee in training

Thu May 12, 2005 23:22

fuck you all I'm dick fucking roche and i am obeying orders from the dark side

not against roads -why fucking not?

by Mark Murphy

Thu May 05, 2005 21:34

its funny with campaigns like Tara how we like to put stuff into nice little boxes. Alot of the tara type people keep saying how theyre not against roads, but they want to save the sacred landscape. Im all for saving sacred landscapes, but im also for saving the environment.

Roads, roads, roads. And i am just trying to be realistic when i say this.

Roads=cars=oil=CO2=global warming=the planet is fucked.

How sacred will Tara be when its under the melt waters of the polar ice cap?

[How great will the fucking ecomony be for that matter?]

But i suppose the acedemics need to maintain their appearance of respectability. Being sensible "no were not against the roads -just the destruction of sacread landscapes" God forbit that theyed get political about it. God forbid theyed make some connections about how capitalism is fucking everything over instead of insisting of keeping within their little heritige box.

not against roads

Thu May 05, 2005 16:34

this isn't a diatribe against roads that are needed... tara is a sacred centre whether you know it or not.

play devils advocate with yourself and go and camp on the hill for a night. maybe even at the solstice. see how you feel then.

What concerns me most is that major developers, who are also financial backers of Fianna Fáil, stand to make millions from this.

"A company controlled by multi-millionaire builder Joseph Murphy whose main business, JMSE, was exposed as corrupt the Flood tribunal owns valuable lands along the route.

So too does multi-millionaire Fianna Fáil backer Cathal McCarthy, who owns 12 acres at the most controversial interchange on the motorway right beside the sacred Hill of Tara. An additional 200-acre landbank beside the interchange site was transferred to the name of Mr McCarthy since April 2004."

hi john

by dpin soctor

Wed May 04, 2005 19:26

same garbage as tommy 'pots and pans' o'reilly

"Ireland needs motorways for its economy to prosper"

You mean NTR need big fuck off Toll Roads and FF need supporters with land that will magically multiply in value to prosper don't you?

do you own some prime land near the proposed interchange?

or haven't you got tricky dickys new talking points yet?

These ones you're following are too blunt and people all over are whispering about the naked corruption and greed of this as a result of such outbursts.

All those experts, historians, academics, and their strong support amongst everyday people - 'swampy style' road protesters. I wish they were but theyre not - they are called 'popular opinion'.

No nationwide polls by reputable organisations yet on this. Strange. Why?

Tara

by John

Wed May 04, 2005 18:43

So what happens if they find some sacred Native American site on Manhattan? Knock down New York and move it elsewhere? Why are leftists so obsessed about some spot where kings used to live? The motorway doesn't even go through the spot where they lived, just within a mile or so of it. What's so special about kings? The fact is that somebody used to live everywhere in Ireland a couple of thousand years ago. No matter where you build you'll be building on the spot where someone used to live. I'm sure there was a settlement in O'Connell Street in 500AD. I don't see that its irrelevant if they weren't kings, but simply Mr and Mrs Bloggs. What's sacred about Tara that couldn't equally be applied to the spot where my great great great great.........granny lived and was buried in 794AD.? There's a cinema on the spot now. Should I ask for it to be knocked down so she can sleep in peace? The anti-M3 campaign is simply an anti-roads campaign. If Tara didn't exist, they'd find some other excuse to oppose it: snails, trees...you name it. Dig a hole in any field in Ireland and you'll find a few bits of pottery or stones dating from Viking times or Norman times or whatever. Ireland needs motorways for its economy to prosper. That's the bottom line.

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Letter about the sacred Tara landscape

Comments (5 of 5)