Cry 'Save Tara' on St Patrick's Day

Tuesday March 04 2008–

Ireland's poet laureate and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney has branded the plan to build a freeway through the Hill of Tara as "ruthless desecration". Professor Heaney added that, under British rule in Ireland, Tara appears to have enjoyed more protection than in today's Irish Republic.

Heaney often refers to his "country of the mind". The Hill of Tara belongs to all people of Irish heritage. This is why Irish people cannot rest while Tara is being desecrated by speculators hell-bent on expanding Ireland's "industrial estate" with no regard for the people. They have forgotten the policy of cultural tourism, which launched the Celtic Tiger in the late 1980s -- a policy directed toward promoting business through showcasing cultural heritage and supporting the arts.

March is the month when Irish governments send out diplomats to all corners of the world in honour of St Patrick's Day. This year, a large number of representatives from Meath, Trim and Navan councils, surrounding the Hill of Tara, will travel abroad to promote flagging tourism, and, no doubt, to ease tensions caused by the international outcry over their continuing illegal desecration of Irish heritage at Tara (the chairman and manager of Meath council will be in Sydney and Melbourne).

This is a call to Irish people to go out of their way to greet these diplomats with the cry "Save Tara!". Let the words "Save Tara!" resound.

Performing artists can call the words "Save Tara" from the stage. Traditional Irish dancers can emblazon "Save Tara" on their sashes. It is our cultural duty and our privilege to raise our voices to save Tara!

MAIREID SULLIVAN

ANAM CARA FOR TARA ARTS ACTION CAMPAIGN