A stone thought to be five thousand years old and engraved with megalithic art similar to the stones at Newgrange has been discovered in an early historic souterrain complex that is being currently excavated to make way for the M3.
The stone discovered on Friday Nov.30th exhibits a series of motifs commonly found in passage tombs such as concentric circles, arcs and zig zags. It is possible that the stone was taken from a nearby passage tomb during the construction of the souterrain in the early centuries AD.
The promontory fort at Rath Lugh that has been unearthed at Lismullen and the discovery of this stone is further evidence of the historic importance of this area and its continued use through the millennia of Irish history.
Muireann Ni Bhrolchain spokesperson for Save Tara Campaign said that this excavation which should have taken ten years is being rushed in months for the sake of this new motorway.
This will allow National Road Authorities to begin their construction of the motorway in the area of the Gabhra Valley.
Muireann Ni Bhrolchain added that Tara and its surrounds is so entrenched in Irish history going back thousands of years BC if we continue to erode the Heritage site with construction whose to know what treasures will be lost forever, treasures relating to knowledge and discoveries about our past and treasures relating to arti-facts.
Just in the last weeks in Collierstown near the valley sixty ancient bodies were unearthed which had been buried in a concentric circle and some relevant marked stones were found in the circle and nearby in Roestown a prehistoric gaming board along with some beads from jewelery were also uncovered, beautiful gold torcs which were excavated from the site and other objects could attract people from all over the world to visit our museums.
The EU is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of their on-going breaches of various environmental directives particularly in relation to the Environmental Impact Statement.
EU environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said recently that he was disappointed that Ireland had not accepted the Commission view that improvements are needed in its legislation on impact assessments in order to safeguard and give the public more say in decisions affecting its rich archaeological heritage and to better guarantee that industrial projects will be comprehensively assessed.
According to Save Tara Campaign, the motorway will pass within 20/30 meters of Rath Lugh despite assurances from the NRA that it would be 110 meters away from it.
Sean O Neill spokesperson for the National Road Authorities said that the NRA are following a public process.
Save Tara Campaign are asking EU to take an injunction against the Irish government to stop construction in the short disputed section of the M3 in the Gabhra Valley until the ECJ has completed its deliberations.
Meath Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee said he was happy that previous mistakes in road construction were not being repeated during the construction of the M3 motor way.
"We have learnt our lesson from the buiilding of the M1 a few years ago when finds were made and not documented, this time all the necessary criteria has been met and the road should should progress, its time we stopped living in the past the road is needed to free traffic build up and to allow people to get to their places of work on time", he said.
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