Madam, - The ESRI's mid-term evaluation of the National Development Plan (The Irish Times, October 31st) expresses concern about the high costs of building roads and calls for a "cost-benefit analysis" to be undertaken "before committing to investing in any project."
Such a cost-benefit analysis is urgently required in relation to the proposed M3 Motorway (recently approved by An Bord Pleanála), with particular reference to the damage and destruction which the motorway will cause to our national heritage and the potentially enormous costs that will be incurred as a result.
The proposed (tolled) motorway will run through the heart of Co Meath cutting right through the Tara-Skryne valley - acknowledged in the EIS archaeological assessment as "one of the richest archaeological landscapes in Europe" - and threatening the integrity of one of Ireland's most important archaeological and historical complexes, the Hill of Tara.
The archaeological implications of running a motorway through an area rich in monuments, both visible and invisible, and the potential costs of "resolving" the archaeological dimension, were raised by many who made submissions to the oral hearing last year and were spelled out in clear and concise terms by Conor Newman, the former director of the Discovery Programme's pioneering Tara Survey. Incredibly, these factors were ignored in An Bord Pleanála's decision which included 10 modifications, none of which related to the archaeological heritage!
The proposal to route this section of the motorway through such an important archaeological landscape was flawed from the outset and it is the Irish people and the Irish taxpayers who will carry the costs.
This proposal must be reconsidered. There are viable alternatives to bringing a motorway within a kilometre of the Hill of Tara - alternatives which would address the urgent traffic and commuting needs of Co Meath without inflicting such irreversible damage on our national heritage and incurring such needless costs.
These alternatives should be examined in detail - now, while there is still time. - Yours, etc.,
JULITTA CLANCY,
Meath Archaeological
and Historical Society,
Parsonstown,
Co Meath