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Joe Horgan has been at it again. In this week's Irish Post, under the title "Mythical Malaise", he bemoans the changes in his beloved (Southern) Ireland. An out-take (about an eighth of his thought-provoking column) follows:
"Ireland now has one of the fastest rates of heritage destruction in the world. We may not have rainforests or rare animals but we do have a history of global value. Yet in these days of boom 10 per cent of heritage sites are destroyed every decade. Round towers, Viking settlements, castles. All going or gone.
Bord Failte portrays us to all those tourists as a country entwined in a deep, mystical past but even as they speak deep, mystical Ireland is being bulldozed.
A landscape sacred to the Irish mind for 5,000 years is to be divided by a motorway purely to cut the commuting time to Dublin. The house in Dublin in which some of the leaders of the 1916 uprising finally surrendered is now threatened by a plan which will demolish it in order to put up a shopping centre. Shopping and commuting. What did we do to deserve this?"
It is such a shame. If only we could do something to prevent the loss of this lovely country's unique charms!
In another section of the Irish Post, tucked away under the "Comhaltas Corner" (traditional music notes with Joe Mullarkey)! headline, is the sub-headline "Save the Soul of Ireland". It begins with (copied exactly!):
"The director of the Irish-Government funded Discovery Programme Conor Newman said: "Tara is one of the most important and famous archaeological complexes in the world all of our researchers point to the valley between Tara and Skryne as an area of paramount importance throughout the history of Tara."
"More recently, 12 eminent Irish historians and archaeologists in letters to the Irish Examiner newspaper wrote: "The Hill of Tara constitutes the heart and soul of Ireland.
"Its very name invokes the spirit and mystique of our people and is instantly recognisable worldwide.
"The plan approved recently by An Bord Pleanala for the M3 motorway to dissect the Tara-Skryne valley, Ireland's premier national monument, spells out a massive national and international tragedy that must be averted."
Nowhere else in Ireland is there a landscape that can claim the Tuatha de Danann, Celtic Gods and Goddesses, St. Patrick, Thomas Moore, heroes and High Kings from Fionn MacCumhail to Brian Boru, an archaeological complex of temples, tombs, enclosures and henges spanning five millennia and a continuous place at the centre of Irish spiritual, cultural, political and literary history, as part of its fabric.
Yet it is through the very heart of this landscape, that Meath County Council, the National Roads Authority and the Irish Government wish to build a motorway which will impact on at least 141 known sites. According to Dr Conor Newman, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The campaign by the Irish language group Stadas to have Irish included as an official EU language was successful, as was the very public campaign to force Aer Lingus to reverse its decision not to return the remains of diseased (deceased!) emigrants home.
This campaign to save the soul of Ireland can be equally successful if we support the it. (just 'It' at the end of that sentence?!)
Sign the petition hosted at http://www.PetitionOnline.com
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. (Those last three words are in the wrong line, but I'm transcribing it as seen!)
It says: "I object to the planned routing of the M3 motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley and the resulting despoilment this will cause to Ireland's oldest and most revered national monument."
Or write the Taoiseach, (This is where Bertie Ahern's name would come in context!), at Dail Eireann, Dublin, Ireland."
A worthy column - let's hope some of us take action. I wrote ages ago to lodge my small protest.
It's a pity the Irish Post didn't make this item more prominent, though it was accompanied by a great aerial shot of the Tara complex.
(NB: Apologies for omitting some of the Irish 'acute accents' - as we call them in English grammar - on some of those words quoted!)
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road