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IRELAND: A monument to 1916... The fight goes on at Tara

by Maireid Sullivan | May 12, 2008 at 05:40 am | 188 views | add comment

This is one of many published Letters to the Ed. from the lovely Pauline Bleach, of the Tara Appreciation Society, based in both Galway, Ireland and Sydney, Australia. She has written an excellent analysis of the M3 Planning Process, titled
"Why the Planning Process is Invalid" - http://www.globalartscollective.org/acf/permission.htm

Monday The Irish Independent, May 12 2008

- While I applaud the setting up of a tourist attraction at the site of the Battle of the Boyne, I regret that there is no similar attraction at the original site of the Irish uprising at the GPO.

As this was the site which started the Republic, I believe equal regard should be given to those who started the 1916 rebellion as to those who were victorious at the Boyne.

It is laughable that the OPW now starts talking about "under the National Monuments Act it is our duty to protect the monument. This is about the structures here".

Have they seen the size of the hole in the side of Rath Lugh? Last time I heard it was still a national monument.

The damage to Rath Lugh at Tara threatens the integrity of the monument since it is an ice esker and any damage allows water to enter and the monument could simply dissolve away.

This is more about trying to silence protest on what Seamus Heaney calls the "desecration of our culture".

Well, Mr Ahern is gone and the hippies may be gone from the hill, but there is still two-thirds of the Irish population who insist even at this late stage that the motorway should be re-routed.

And we will not be silenced.

PAULINE BLEACH