Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I recognise that he is from the midlands and is probably familiar with the area to which I refer. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Martin Mansergh, visited the site recently while his party was holding a think-in and was very impressed. For this reason I am sorry he is not in the Chamber but I am glad the Minister of State, who is from the midlands, is present. Corlea, and the major prehistoric trackway of large oak planks, was found in 1984 when Bord na Móna was harvesting peat near Keenagh, County Longford. The oak road is the largest in Europe and was excavated by Professor Barry Raftery of UCD. From tree ring analysis Professor Raftery identified that this great Iron Age road was cut down in 148 BC, which is a long time ago. The great road is the culmination of almost 60 tracks, or toghers, dating from 3500 BC at Corlea. The site is unique in that it is the only OPW heritage site in Longford and Westmeath. The OPW has done a magnificent job in building the Corlea trackway visitor centre. I advise anyone in the midlands to visit this area. It rises is like a basilica in the bog. Inside the centre an 18 m stretch of the preserved road is on permanent display, specially designed to preserve the ancient wooden structure. There is a tiered auditorium that seats over 60 people with a video showing the excavation and preservation of the road. Other facilities include exhibitions, a tearoom that seats up to 50 people, toilets, a picnic area and a walkway to the bog. The centre is accessible for visitors with disabilities.

The centre is in difficulty at the moment. It seeks to complement the existing visitor centre and put Corlea on the map. As the Cathaoirleach is aware, Clonmacnoise is located in Offaly and while this is on a smaller scale it is extremely valuable. I propose starting a new archaeological dig. Very few artefacts were found in the original dig because there was only time to excavate lengthways and not sideways. Bord na Móna has promised four acres of cutaway bog. We should combine this project with the existing visitor centre and initiate accredited training courses supervised by archaeologists. Many archaeologists are looking for work at present and support for such courses is already received from archaeology schools in Ireland and Germany.

We have considered where the money could come from. Funding could be received from the Leader programme and a potential €500,000 is available from that source. However, there are legal implications as Corlea is part of the OPW and it would need to be established as a limited company to receive funding under the Leader programme. Precedents for this exist in Muckross House and the Teagasc centre in Wexford.

I feel strongly about this issue because Keenagh is a small and beautiful village and the area would benefit from more visitors because it would create jobs. The people there have contributed to preserving the environment and will continue to do so. The auditorium and tearoom are valuable facilities and much money has been spent on them. To get the value for this investment we should go the whole nine yards and extend the project. At present, the facilities are closed from October to March and this is a terrible waste.