SACRED IRELAND

STATEMENT

March 2005

"Over the past number of years the debate regarding the routing of part of the M3 motorway through the Tara/Skryne Valley has concentrated on archaeological, economic and traffic considerations. As teachers and researchers of various disciplines including Celtic Studies, Irish History, Irish Literature, Historical Geography, Theology, Linguistics and Anthropology we feel compelled at this stage to widen the discussion beyond archaeology. The weight of anthropological, historical and literary evidence proves that Tara is a site of special significance and of international importance from early history to the present. Indeed this was acknowledged by two Taoisigh, Eamon De Valera who visited the Hill of Tara when excavations were undertaken there in the 1950s and Charles Haughey when he initiated the Discovery Programme in the early 1990s. The flagship project of the state-funded Discovery Programme since then has been the Tara Project undertaken by scholars such as Edel Bhreathnach and Conor Newman. The existence of a wider landscape beyond the Hill of Tara can be clearly deduced from Ireland's extensive medieval historical and literary sources.

To deny this wider definition of Tara amounts either to ignorance or wilful misinformation.

We ask the Government to pose the question: Is it an enlightened decision to knowingly take this landscape - the premier landscape within Ireland since the Neolithic period - and cut a motorway through it? How can it be justified in what is now one of the richest countries in Europe that such a sensitive landscape is destroyed rather than subjected to proper landscape management that would change it into an economic asset - as has been done with the comparable landscape of the Boyne Valley? If the motorway is constructed as currently planned, what
does that say to the world about the cultural sensitivity of the Government?

We appeal to the Government to take an enlightened step and reverse the decision to route the M3 through the Tara/Skryne Valley. In a cultural context, such a move would demonstrate to the world Ireland's mature approach towards balancing necessary infrastructural development with the preservation of its valuable heritage."

Names:

Prof Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Irish Studies, Harvard University
Dr Cornelius Buttimer, Irish Department, UCC
Prof Alan Titley, Coláiste Phádraig, Droim Conrach
Dr Eamon Ó Cíosáin, Dept of French, NUIM
Dr David Edwards, Dept of History, UCC
Dr Máire Ní Neachtain, Roinn na Gaeilge, Coláiste Mhuire gan Smál, Ollscoil Luimnigh.
Prof Fergus Kelly, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Dr Niocholas Canny, Depart of History, NUIM
Prof Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Ass. Prof, Dept of Irish Folklore, UCD
Breandán Ó Buachalla, Professor of Irish Language and Literature,
Keough Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA
Prof Neil McLeod, Murdoch University, Australia
Erich Poppe, Celtic Studies, Philipps-Universitaet Marburg, Germany
Prof Séamus Mac Mathúna, University of Ulster, Coleraine
Dr Aisling Ní Dhonnchadha, Roinn na Nua-Ghaeilge, NUIM
Prof Kathryn Conrad, Associate Professor of English, University of Kansas
Prof Ronald Hicks, Prof. Anthropology, Ball University, Indiana
Dr Séamus Mac Gabhann, Dept of English, NUIM
Prof Doris Edel, Prof. Emeritus, Celtic Language and Civilisation, Utrecht
Dr Donncha Ó hAodha, Roinn na Sean agus na Meán-Ghaeilge, NUIG
Dr Brian Ó Curnáin canúineolaí, Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath
Kevin Murray, Roinn na Sean-Ghaeilge, UCC
Dr Máire Ní Annracháin, Roinn na Nua-Ghaeilge, NUIM
Dr Colmán Etchingham, Depart of History, NUIM
Prof Joseph F. Nagy, Depart of English, University of California, Los Angeles
Dr Lise Bakke Brondho, Administrative Head of Studies, Dept of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Norway
Dr Catherine Swift, NUIG
Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Cambridge
Ass.Prof Jan Eric Rekdal, University of Oslo, Norway
Prof Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha, Dept of Old and Middle Irish, NUIG
Dr Jacqueline Borsje, Celtic Studies Research Institute for History and Culture, Utrecht University
Dr Peter Denman, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, NUIM
Gwendal Denis Head of Breton Dept Rennes University
Dr Alexander Falileyev, The Ancient Celtic Place-Names of Europe and
Asia Minor Project, Dept of Welsh, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Dr Inge Genee, Celtic Studies, Dept of Modern Languages, University of Lethbridge, Canada
Dr Rijcklof Hofman, Project Moderne Devotie, Tutus Brandsma Instituut, The Netherlands
Dr Bart Jaski, Celtic Studies, University of Utrecht
Ailbhe Mac Samhráin, Research Fellow, Monasticon Hibernicum Project Máire Mhic Samhráin
Dr Ranke de Vries, Celtic Studies, University of Utrecht
Tom Finan, Director of The Center for International Education, Webster University, St Louis, Missouri
Tatyana Mikhailova, Faculty of Philology, department of Germanic and Celtic Philology, Moscow State University, Russia
Máire Ní Bhaoill
Brendan McConvery C.Ss.R., Dean of the Faculty of Theology, St. Patrick?s College, Maynooth
Elva Johnston, UCD
Dr John Bradley, History Department, NUIM
Prof José Lanters, Dept of English, Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Prof Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Dept of Early Irish History, UCG
Prof. Donncha Ó Corráin, Dept of Early Irish History, UCC
Brian Donovan, Eneclann Ltd/Archive CD Books Ireland
Ann Dooley, University of Toronto, Canada
Michael Clarke, Classics Dept, NUIM
Conchobhar Ó Crualaoich, Logainmneacha
Ruairí Ó hUiginn, Ollamh le Nua Ghaeilge NUIM
Tadhg Ó Dúshláine, Roinn na Nua Ghaeilge, NUIM
Maeve O?Brien, Classics Dept, NUIM
Dr. Mary Condren, Centre for Gender and Women?s Studies, Trinity College Dublin
Prof David Wilson, University of Toronto, Canada
Prof Mairin Nic Dhiarmada, University of Toronto, Canada
Prof Brent Miles, University of Toronto, Canada
Connell Monette, University of Toronto, Canada
Sarah Sheehan, University of Toronto, Canada
Jennifer Reid, University of Toronto, Canada
Geraldine Fogarty, University of Toronto, Canada
Maire Johnson, University of Toronto, Canada
Giselle Gos, University of Toronto, Canada
Anna Matheson, University of Toronto, Canada
Jean Talman, University of Toronto, Canada
Dr Aidan Breen
Dr Laurence Cox, Dept of Sociology, NUIM
Dr Chandana Mathur, Dept of Anthropology, NUIM
Dr P Ó Dochartaigh, Roinn na Gearmáinise, Ollscoil, Uladh, Cúil Rathain, Doire
Dr Deana Heath, Dept of Modern History, TCD
Dr Páidrigín Riggs, Roinn na Gaeilge, UCC
Dr Marie-Therese Flanagan, School of History, Queen?s University, Belfast
Dr Mary Corcoran, Dept of Sociology, NUIM
Dr Grigory Bondarenko, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Martin Holland
Michael O'Hanrahan, President, Group for the Study of Irish Historical Settlement
Dr. Linda Doran, Member, Group for the Study of Irish Historical Settlement
Mr. Bill Doran, Member, Group for the Study of Irish Historical Settlement
Charles Doherty, School of History, UCD
Dr.Raymond Gillespie (beidh an a theidil ceart agat)
Bernadette Cunningham, Micheal O Cleirigh Institute, UCD
Dr Edel Bhreathnach, Micheal O Cleirigh Institute, UCD
Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards, Jesus Professor of Celtic Language and Literature, University of Oxford.
Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, Celtic Studies, NUIM

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