Madam, - It is something of a tragic irony that Dick Roche, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, should choose this time to announce his intention to impose "robust controls" with regard to Tara to "ensure that appropriate planning policies are in place to provide for the future protection of this area" (The Irish Times, May 21st).
He further states "I have instructed my Department to engage with [ Meath County] Council to stress the need for the [ county development] plan to contain objectives to protect the archaeology, amenities and setting of the Hill of Tara and of the surrounding area".
Surely the Minister is aware that this, in effect, was the stated objective of the previous county development plan before it was amended to clear the way, as it were, for the M3 tolled motorway? Does he genuinely believe he can now close the door to further commercial pressures, given that the precedence of letting the horse bolt in such a dramatic way has already been set? In this instance it appears the door has been pushed off its hinges in the enthusiasm to facilitate the construction of a PPP-funded four-lane tolled motorway through the heart of one of the most culturally sensitive areas in the land.
It is surely inevitable that the purpose-built major interchange at Castletown/Tara and Blundelstown will spawn a creeping barrage of secondary developments that will, in time, begin to encroach on the core ritual complex on the hill - hardly a welcome "sequence" of development in the rich cultural tapestry of Tara or indeed the "living landscape of homes and farms" that Mr Roche now, somewhat belatedly, wishes to protect. - Yours etc,
JOE FENWICK, Department of Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway.