The Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, is expected to issue a preservation order on a major Viking archaeological site near Waterford city in the coming weeks, which will require the rerouting of a proposed bypass of the city, writes Liam Reid
The Woodstown site, which was discovered in 2003 by archaeologists working on the Waterford by-pass, is believed to be one of the most important Viking sites uncovered in Europe in the last 100 years.
There has been considerable uncertainty about the site since last year amid a growing campaign by archaeologists and local historians to preserve the site.
Hopes for its preservation were boosted last autumn after archaeologists discovered that the site was even larger than previously thought, and the National Roads Authority drew up contingency plans to reroute the proposed €200 million roadway around the site.
There is now mounting expectation that Mr Roche will issue a preservation order, following a visit to the site later today, after the NRA informed him it now favours a rerouting around the site.
Mr Michael Egan, spokesman for the NRA, said the authority believed the costs and delays from rerouting were less than the additional costs and delays from a major excavation of the site.
"The ball is in the Minister's court. We set out as a contingency to look at the possibility of an alternative route. Now we believe there is a viable alternative by looping around to avoid the site, and we have indicated that, at this stage, this is our preferred option," Mr Egan said.
The Woodstown site is expected to be the first occasion Mr Roche will use new powers, introduced under the national monuments legislation, where he can issue an order directing the preservation of an entire site. The order effectively bans any development on such sites.
Located on the southern bank of the River Suir, five miles west of Waterford city, Woodstown is believed to have been a major Viking town and port dating back to the ninth century.
Preliminary research has already identified over 600 features on the site, including fireplaces and house gullies. Archaeologists have also recovered 5,000 objects, including silver ingots, ships' nails, Byzantine coins and Viking weaponry.
The site has been the subject of an intense campaign by the Save Viking Waterford action group, which has been campaigning for the rerouting.
Campaigners have also been calling for a full excavation in the event of a rerouting.
The NRA has rejected comparisons between the situation at Woodstown and the proposed M3 route through the Tara valley in Co Meath.
Mr Michael Egan said that Woodstown site was one unified site, and was unknown when the route was being planned.
Tara was a known site, and the NRA believed that the newly-discovered sites along the route were not of significant importance to require a rerouting.
Archaeological experts campaigning for a rerouting of Tara have rejected this, arguing that the Tara valley should be seen as an archaeological complex of international importance.