Tara group urges rethink on M3

Voters in Co Meath are to be asked to support candidates opposed to the current plans for the M3 motorway, which is to pass close to the Hill of Tara.

A number of Meath-based groups which are opposed to the route of the motorway, including the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society and the Campaign to Save Tara, yesterday launched a joint campaign to influence voters in the county.

The campaign has printed a nine-page brochure which it intends to distribute to every household in both Meath constituencies in advance of polling day.

The brochure details what it says are the alternatives to the new motorway, including converting the existing N3 to a "two-plus-one [ lane] road" and the early reopening of the Dublin to Navan railway line.

The brochure is also being distributed to shopping centres in Dublin, Galway and Cork, where people will be asked to raise the issue with their candidates.

Yesterday's event was attended by the environmentalist and broadcaster Duncan Stewart, by Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, of the Department of Medieval Studies at NUI Maynooth, and by Claire Oakes, of the Tara Heritage Preservation Group.

Mr Stewart told the meeting that the M3 would not be built for another decade because of delays caused by archaeological finds along the way. By the time the road was constructed it would be obsolete because of the higher cost of fossil fuels.

Mr Stewart said that building the road made no sense on a number of levels. It would further encourage speculative development based on car-commuting and would further increase the output of carbon emissions.