Save Tara

It was a mad idea to build a motorway through Tara.
We all knew they'd find more monuments once they started excavating the road and sure enough they have found a henge at Lismullen. Excavation works have now stopped. Under the National Monuments Act the Minister for the Environment has to seek the advice of the Director of the National Museum before proceeding. The Museum will presumably advise against running a motorway through the new National Monument, and the Minister will overrule him and direct that the monument be "preserved by record", which is doublespeak for "destroyed by archaeologists". This, of course, is exactly what we were told could not happen when the legislation was introduced in June 2004. When then Minister, Martin Cullen, was asked by Mark Clinton on RTE's Primetime whether the National Museum had a power of veto Cullen said "Of course they have a power of veto".
The reality is that the Museum doesn't have a power of veto in the legislation, and that the Minister was brass necking it live on National TV. Quelle surpreeze! We should see the proof of this shortly. Let's hope I'm wrong.