We've gone ahead and set up a mailing list and facebook group for those people who want to form a campaign to save the Bend of the Boyne World Heritage site from the N2 Slane Bypass. Breaking news yesterday even got picked up by USA today, so there is great interest out there. And with An Taisce already bending over, so to speak, to accommodate this development, and others busy with Bremore, it looks like there is nobody else going to do it if we don't get things rolling. Personally, I can barely face the thought of Another campaign, but I know others will have the energy to build this up. For catchiness, its simply called Save Newgrange:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=438725795435&ref=mf
Yahoogroups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savenewgrange/
The preferred route for the N2 Slane Bypass, County Meath, Ireland, announced in January 2010 by the National Roads Authority, runs 500 metres from the edge of the Bend of the Boyne UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the World Heritage Committee: "The three main prehistoric sites of the Brú na Bóinne Complex, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, are situated on the north bank of the River Boyne 50 km north of Dublin. This is Europe's largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art. The monuments there had social, economic, religious and funerary functions. The Committee inscribed the site under criteria (i), (iii) and (iv) and invited the Irish authorities to control carefully future developments in and around the site and to involve ICOMOS in conservation and management planning."
We are working on a draft petition. If anyone has suggestions, please let us know.
Cheers,
Vincent
With thanks to Runemage for the news
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road