Claim: Hill of Tara 'henge' will be destroyed for Irish highway

Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has already issued draft directions that would allow for the destruction of the recently discovered "henge" along the route of the M3 in Co Meath, it was claimed yesterday.

The environmental group TaraWatch said Mr Roche had sent draft directions to the National Museum to preserve the henge "by record", a process that would facilitate photographs and written records being made before the henge is removed...

Mr Roche told The Irish Times yesterday that he was in consultation with the National Museum, but he declined to elaborate on the nature of
that consultation...

[The Environment Department said,] "The Minister is advised that the surviving elements of the monument are extremely fragile, underlining the need for an early decision on how to proceed."...

Dr Mark Clinton, chairman of An Taisce's national monuments and antiquities committee, said: "The discovery of what could be called a temple, after the fashion of a comparable discovery at Emain Macha, seat of the kings of Ulster, is of obvious major significance. Such sites are extremely rare." He called for full scientific excavation to be followed by reconstruction.

Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell has said she was "stunned" to learn that "more than 500 archaeologists, hired at a cost of 30 million pounds, managed to miss a four-acre historical site while excavating for the new M3 motorway".

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Roche alerted weeks ago to major 'temple' on M3 (Irish Independent; registration required)