Madam, - In defending the qualifications and experience of the Chief State Archaeologist, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche (December 8th) dodges the main contention in Frank McDonald's article of December 5th: that the M3 motorway will, contrary to Mr Brian Duffy's advice, cause enormous damage to the Tara landscape.
The truth of this contention was confirmed only days later at the launch of The Kingship and Landscape of Tara by Edel Bhreatnach of the Discovery Programme, the State archaeological research unit. She expressed the unanimous opinion of the international academic community that the proposed M3 route would be a "cultural travesty" (The Irish Times, December 15th). But Mr Roche shows only distain for scientific evidence, particularly in relation to Tara.
This refusal to recognize authoritative scientific opinion marks a stark departure from prevailing worldwide standards of preservation and research into physical, cultural remains. Mr Roche has only to read a Reuters report in the same issue, headed "Ancient Maya painting casts light on creation", to see how out of step we are in Ireland. The report heralded a newly discovered 10-metre painting depicting the Maya creation myth and the coronation of the first Mayan king by the gods. Meanwhile, the rich physical tapestry surrounding Tara, which tells the story of the coronation of the Irish king who mates with the earth goddess Tea, is being brutally erased.
Does Mr Roche not realize that the 6km-long and 20m-wide trench being dug through the Tara valley is far more spectacular and revealing than the Mayan mural? It contains the actual sweat, blood, tears, bones, clothes, jewellery, weaponry, pots, and footprints of our direct ancestors, at the site they revered and defended above all others. There they celebrated the best of their own culture and composed their own laws, which were a foundation stone for modern European culture. For Ireland was the first in Europe to adopt the divine right to kingship.
Each layer of earth machined away from Tara, or buried under a motorway, represents incalculable numbers of blank pages in the future scientific knowledge of our collective cultural evolution and identity. - Yours, etc,
VINCENT SALAFIA, Dodder Vale, Dublin 14.