Madam, - The royal estate of Tara is Ireland's premier national monument, encapsulating over 5,000 years of extraordinary history and mythology. The poet WB Yeats wrote: "Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland."
Both of the Irish national symbols, the harp and the shamrock, originate at Tara. These emblems have been promoted for decades throughout the world by the Irish Tourist Board to identify something unique about Ireland, and with great effect: Tara and its symbols have become readily recognisable motifs for Ireland and for what it is most prized internationally - its culture, rich history and beautiful landscape. Yet there are current plans to build a four-lane tolled motorway, the M3, at the foot of the Hill of Tara, with a major, floodlit, flyover-interchange only 1,200 meters from the summit. Motorways are generic, and can be seen everywhere; the entire landscape of Tara is one of a kind, unique in the world. It is because of such culturally rich and naturally beautiful places as the Tara landscape that so many visitors come to Ireland and return again and again. To damage Tara is to damage Ireland's tourist image and high international reputation.
The commuters of Co Meath need solutions to their traffic problems, but this is an instance where it is possible to satisfy local needs as well as taking account of the wider national and international perspective, for there are other routes available for this motorway and other transport options. Heritage and culture do not have to be sacrificed for development. Short-term need and long-term vision can be combined by rerouting the M3 toll-motorway away from the Tara-Skryne valley, perhaps along the route east of Skryne which was originally favoured by the Government's own consultants, and remains the preferred option of all the Government's heritage advisers.
With distance the perspective always changes; and perhaps what is unclear in the detail of the debate in Ireland has greater clarity when viewed from abroad: a four-lane motorway through the Tara landscape will destroy the integrity and beauty of a priceless cultural treasure, which expert archaeologists, historians and Celticists state is a landscape not just of importance to Ireland but to the whole world.
It is ironic that St Patrick's Day will be celebrated all over the globe, and the shamrock worn, in the same month as the Irish Government is set to decide the fate of the Tara landscape. Tara is the place where St Patrick first used the symbol of the three-leafed shamrock in his teachings to signify the Divine Trinity. To put a motorway through the grounds of royal Tara is to deface a national icon, akin to removing a leaf from the emblem of the shamrock. The landscape of Tara is indivisible and must remain entirely intact and undisturbed for the appreciation of not just the people of Ireland, but for all those around the world who cherish Ireland and its culture. - Yours, etc.,
FIONNUALA DEVLIN, Spokesperson, Protect Tara International Campaign, Berlin, Germany;
STIOFAN O'FOGHLU, President, German-Irish Association, Rhine-Main, Germany;
FINOLA KEATING, President of the Geneva Irish Association, Switzerland;
MARY GAVIN, President, Irish Club Netherlands;
FRANK McLYNN, President, German-Irish Association, Bavaria, Germany;
ANN DOUGLAS, President, Irish Club of Belgium;
MARKUS COLLIN, Chairman, Finnish Irish Society, Finland;
ORESTE PERNA, Vice-President, Italian-Irish Intercultural Association;
ROBERT SCOTT-MARTIN, Chairman, Celtic and Irish Cultural Society, England;
NOEL PURCELL, President, Rhine Valley Irish Association, France;
JUERGEN GOTTSCHALK, President, German-Irish Association, Wuerzburg, Germany;
KARL BUXMANN, President, Friedberg Society for the Promotion of German-Irish Understanding, Germany.