David Norris (Independent)

We will compromise on that. This is a site of world importance. When Senator Kitt spoke about the shortest way from Galway to Dublin, I thought of James Joyce saying the shortest way to Tara is via Holyhead. It soon will be — we will have to go to England to look at photographs of it. It is extraordinary. It is as if the Egyptian Government decided to put a tramline through the Valley of the Kings.

It was interesting to listen to Members' contributions. Senator Mansergh made a balanced contribution and indicated disquiet on the Government side. Senator Maurice Hayes, who was nominated to the House by the Government, wrote a superb article in one of the Sunday newspapers outlining the difficulties. Professor Eogan, who is perhaps the most distinguished archaeologist and certainly the greatest authority in this country on this area, has indicated his concern.

We do not oppose motorways. That is a myth. We also do not oppose infrastructure. In fact, virtually all the road can be built with the exception of a three mile stretch from Ross Cross to Carlow Cross. Why not first build the two ends of the road, which will give time to investigate and produce an alternative route? That can be done.

What is involved is not just a couple of pinpoints on top of a hill or a burial mound but the entire archaeological complex. This has been recognised under legislation dating from the 1980s which deals with the nomination of archaeological sites. Under the discovery programme, the idea that Tara does not begin and end with monuments on the hill in State ownership is recognised by the fact that throughout the 1980s and 1990s the zone of archaeological protection marked in the SMR maps described a slightly greater area than that on the top of the hill. In 1997, Dúchas redefined the archaeological zone as an ellipse some 6 km in diameter around the hill of Tara. The area is already defined as an area of major archaeological importance.

There is no doubt that the crown of the hill is a burial ground. There is an impressive concentration of monuments there that are clearly visible. There is, however, also an entire complex, only some of which has been located. The remainder lies waiting to be discovered.

I wish to deal now with the identification of the route. The NRA considered various routes and there is no question that it decided upon what is called route P as the most favoured on a number of grounds including archaeology, built heritage, flora, fauna and habitats, water quality, landscape and visual effects, air quality and noise levels. In no category whatever does it recommend the route the NRA has chosen. That is astonishing. Some of this information was diluted in the environmental impact survey and led to a letter being written to The Irish Times by a distinguished archaeologist which states An Bord Pleanála bears some responsibility in for this fiasco because "Its weak-kneed, unquestioning acceptance of whatever road plans are put before it shows that it is simply the Government's rubber-stamping department."

This is a serious matter. The place in question has been celebrated by poets from Yeats back to the court bard of Maoilseachlainn in the tenth century. One side of my family has old Gaelic roots and I am astonished that a Fianna Fáil Government would consider desecrating what is surely the most sacred site in Irish history.