Tara Day

by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain Wed Aug 10, 2005 19:04

Tara Day August 15th 3pm
by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 11:23pm

TARA DAY August 15th 2005

The people of Ireland are invited to visit the Hill of Tara on August 15th. Tara Day, to express their opposition to the proposed twice-tolled Motorway through the Gabhra (TaraSkryne) Valley. Information will be available on the 38 sites along the proposed route, including those presently being excavated and others that may be investigated in the future. Maps will be available and everyone is invited to visit these sites that lie so close to the bottom of the Hill. People are asked to gather from 3 p.m. onwards and at 7 p.m. we invite any politicians who wish to join us for information and photographs.

The 15th of August has been chosen for this event because on August 15th 1843 Daniel O’Connell held a monster meeting at Tara attended by an estimated 750,000 people. These people held a belief that the strength of their unity could make a difference to their freedom. That same flicker of belief burns deep within us all.

Daniel O’Connell was not alone in choosing Tara as a rallying or battle point. Many others saw Tara as the location from which to launch a campaign. It was used by Brian Boru, by the O’Neill’s in the sixteenth century and was the focal point of the 1641 rebellion. There was also a skirmish there during the 1798 rebellion.

One of the major battles between the Norse and the high-king of Ireland was the Battle of Tara fought between Mael Sechlainn and Olaf Cuaran for the prize of the kingdom of Brega (the land surrounding Tara) and for Tara itself.

The public are asked to bring their county flags and the tri-colour with them to express their support of those who oppose the routing of the proposed road through the Valley. People are also invited to bring flags or banners representing various issues they might be trying to highlight in their own communities.

The National Roads Authority and Meath County Council have issued a propaganda pack on the archaeological aspects of the M3 and this is being selectively distributed countrywide. The pack includes a CD outlining how the proposed motorway might fit into the landscape. However, Rath Lugh, one of the main outposts of Tara, has been completely ignored. Perhaps the NRA and MCC do not want the public to know that it would be separated from its core, The impact on Skryne is also overlooked. Public taxpayers money is again being spent to promote a PPP project. The cost of this propaganda exercise is being investigated.

spokes@sacredireland.org
www.sacredireland.org
087-9249510

http://www.sacredireland.org

by Sherlock Holmes Wed Aug 10, 2005 15:53

Can we get more details please:

What exactly does the day entail?
What time does it begin?

The concept is an excellent idea and should, if done well, bolster the campaign.

by it Wed Aug 10, 2005 15:25

NRA denies M3 route avoids big farms
Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has denied the meandering route of the M3 motorway from Clonee to Kells had been designed to avoid cutting through big farms in Co Meath.

Brian Swan, who farms next to the Hill of Skryne, claimed that it "meanders like a rattlesnake" to suit the county's big farming interests.

"If the NRA could move it for them, they could easily move it to protect our heritage," he said.

An NRA spokesman said it was "unfair and inaccurate" to suggest that large landowners had been specifically facilitated by the route-selection process for the M3, though minimising farm severance was one of the considerations.

"The logical line of the route would have been to the west of Tara, but we didn't do that in order to mitigate its visual and archaeological impacts.

"The loop we're taking now is longer and is affecting more land as a consequence."

An outspoken opponent of the motorway, Mr Swan conceded that it did not affect his 200-acre farm.

"But I'd say every farmer along the route is afraid to speak out because they know if they open their mouths they'll lose out."

The NRA confirmed that farmers affected by the motorway would receive "co-operation money" amounting to an extra €5,000 an acre for allowing access to their land - roughly 15 per cent more than its acquisition cost.

Michael Egan, director of corporate affairs, said there was nothing unusual about this arrangement. It was in line with an agreement reached in 2001 between the Department of the Environment and the Irish Farmers' Association.

"Farmers had been refusing us access to their land and this was having a serious impact on the roads programme, so the agreement provided for these goodwill payments. The case of the M3 is no different," he said.

Mr Swan, whose family has been farming in Skryne for seven generations, said he was well aware of its history. "Every morning I get up I'm reminded that this place has been affected by every period of history. I don't think it belongs to us to plunder.

"It's a sacred place that belongs to our ancestors, and we shouldn't be touching it. The old road between Skryne and Tara is still there, marked by a double-ditch, and when I show that to people, especially foreign visitors, they go silent in wonder."

Tourists "can't believe that a motorway is planned to run through this valley. I thought it couldn't happen either, so I was late getting involved in the campaign. But I'm going to do whatever is required of me now to help stop it."

Raymond Manley, a Dundalk-based engineer, said all interested parties should meet in a non-confrontational atmosphere to devise the best solution and "avoid mistakes before they happen".

On a recent visit to Stonehenge he noted plans to remove one of the two roads which run close to this World Heritage Site and to put the other one underground so Stonehenge could be viewed in a grassland setting.

The current car-park would be grassed over, and a new visitor centre built some 3km away, according to English Heritage, the National Trust and the Highways Agency.

"Having visited Tara a number of times, it struck me that we should be learning from the Stonehenge experience of past mistakes before we make similar ones ourselves and be faced with a costly process of trying to fix it at some later time," Mr Manley said.

by PreserveTara Tue Aug 09, 2005 03:52

Only a week away!

Happy Tara Day!!

by outsideTheBox Tue Aug 02, 2005 02:41

Tara Day is a fantastic idea. Didn't I read that there'll be music? Everyone should bring food to share. Nothing attracts like food. :)

Show the government that Tara is about the Irish, past, present, and future. Make her live again on Tara Day.