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The Irish Times/ireland.com head2head is a forum for people who wish
to express their views on issues of topical interest. In order to represent as wide a
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all our contributors to only post comments which are relevant to the daily question.
Your Reaction
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If this route was carefully planned as claimed, why is it still so
controversial after eight years? The answer lies in the fact that an
Bord Pleanala based its decision to proceed on completely outdated
information on Tara, despite having available the most up-to-date and
exciting research of the State Discovery Program. This research had
already been the basis on which the Consultants employed by Meath
County Council had advised against the route through the Tara valley in
2000- advice that was ignored as was the impassioned plea made to the
oral hearing in 2002 by Conor Newman, the Director of that research.The
planning process was faulty and must not be used as justification for
destroying what we now know to be a rich historical landscape with
endless possibilities for ourselves and for tourism.
The nub of the Tara/M3 debate is a question of values. To reduse
archaeology and history to 'a single topic'(by implication deemed to
have little if any value) speaks volumes about a particular mindset- a
mindset that values utilitarian things above all else and seems blind
to anything deeper.Buisness, important though it is ,is only one part
of life and when it alone is used as the determining factor in how we
plan and shape our environment we get a society out of balance with
itself and its context. The signs of such imbalance are everywhere.
Tara is a line in the sand as regards what matters and what doesn't to
Irish people. The motorway is not yet built and therefore the short
contentious bit of route can and should be changed.We can prove to
ourselves and the world that Ireland has enough maturity,courage and
imagination to be able to modernise without needing to destroy the very
heart of our identity.
Claire Oakes
Ireland
- The road in its present location through the Tara Skrne Valley is
destroying not just indivaidual monuments but also the entire landscape
which should be preserved. The new M3 is another result of bad planning
and will not solve the commuting problems of the many but only line the
pockets of the few incolved within the ppp. By passes should have been
built many years ago and the rail links to the towns of the county
should be given priority . The new M3 still arrives at the
Blanchardstown Roundabout and all the chaos that goes with the M50
JOHN MARK
Ireland
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Recent debate on the proposed M3 motorway, and the consequences of the
NRA's preferred route has prompted me as a Co Meath commuter to come to
the conclusion that here is no need whatsoever for this motorway.
Driving to Drogheda yesterday, I was struck by the simple and cost
effective solution to this contentious transportation need is the
construction of a new dual carriageway from Kells and Navan on to the
M1 at Drogheda, with a similar roadway from Trim to Blanchardstown.
This will avoid the Tara-SkryneValley altogether, and will stream
the vast bulk of the traffic using the N3 today onto the M1 traffic
corridor. It can also give commuters the choice of taking the proposed
M2 route, as it will have to cross this route. This can also be the
starting point for a outer orbit M50 road to link Drogheda, Navan,
Trim, Naas and on to Blessington. Dunshaughlin can be comfortably
bypassed, the existing N3 can be widened, and the entry points to the
M50 can be upgraded to accommodate the changes proposed.
The railway link from Pace on to Navan and Kells can, at the
same time, be prioritised without the proposed M3 cutting across it,
and be completed within a shorter timespan than that proposed. The
speedy completion of this alternative will alleviate the long and
wasted hours endured by myself and my fellow commuters who are caught
up in the traffic snarl ups when travelling to Dublin every day.
Minister Dempsey now has the greatest opportunity to deliver a
transport and roads strategy for Co Meath and the rest of the country;
I urge him to work with his new partners in government. to bring all of
the Co. Meath commuters home from work at a reasonable hour, not at
seven, or eight every working day He promised to deliver progress, this
would be a good starting point for him to deliver a lasting legacy.
Niall Salmon
Ireland
- Why can the railway not be restored as a matter of urgency? If they put
the time & effort into public services, the half empty car
population would get off the road. Everybody uses public transport in
other countries. Why not here? Because it's not , in most cases, user
friendly. Houses are built, to give the gov more taxes, but nothing
follows without a huge outcry. the poor Irish. Always at the mercy of
the gombeen.
birgitta horan
Ireland
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Surely the results of this poll speak volumes. This motorway was on the
wrong track from the start. People who oppose it are not against
progression, just against mindless, officially sanctioned vandalism. It
is a national disgrace that will all be of our own making (we can't
blame the English for this one!)Why is viable public transort (ie.
trains) not being provided, and why are vested interests allowed to
dictate matters that affect our communal heritage. Vested interests and
Irish politics remain incestuous bedfellows.
Tara H.
Ireland
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Julitta Clancy is right to identify the planning process as deeply
flawed - if not also, in Tara's case, demonstrably manipulated. (After
6 years' research, I think I can demonstrate it). With respect to him,
Michael Cassidy's contrasting confidence in the planning process is
part of the delusion associated with a publicly authorised programme
tasked with one purpose only, to start infrastructure projects as
quickly as possible. The mismatch - Clancy's concern for heritage and
Cassidy's concern for construction - rests upon complex, difficult
problems of legitimacy and accountability, and citizenship and civil
society. There is no reliable mechanism by which the citizens affected
by such projects can or could call the power deployed to answer.
Equally, there is no evident recognition on the part of that power that
it need to take citizen calculations into its deliberations in a
structured inclusive way, rather than simply blast them out as
'abnormal' and 'extremist'. As we exchange opinions about Tara on this
web site, European Frameworks of academics have already settled the
subtelties of these same issues in conceptual terms. Their conclusions
are needed urgently in the public domain - indeed, you and I have paid
through our taxes to hear them. But that means that politicans have to
listen to uncomfortable truths - and that academics, other than
archaeologists, have to get their hands dirty. I am not optimistic on
either count. I conclude, therefore, that democracy is still on its
slippery slope and that there are more 'Taras' to come.
Martin Kay
Ireland
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Time to call a halt to this madness, build the M3 but move it and I bet
it will be built quicker than if continue to stick our heads in the
sand and insist on the current route with all the delays that will
arise due to this find and that over the months ahead.
Could we also have a rail service ahead of 2015 to give commuters a
real choice - the idea of having to wait until then is depressing -
surely we can get this done quicker. Come on Minster Dempsey - deliver
for Meath with a rail service to Navan in the next 5 years before you
stand for re-election.
Paul Kearns
Ireland
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As a Navan I say just built the damn thing and get us to work on time.
Peter Bukey
Ireland
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Why is Ireland behaving like the U.S.? In this era of global climate
change, one of the last things you want is a motorway. All motorways do
is encourage more cars and more commuters (more people move further out
once it becomes easier - suburban sprawl). I agree with Karen Ward that
the focus should be put on a railway which moves people more
efficiently, pollutes less, and passes by less. You don't have strings
of cars miles long if there is an accident. Just look at the East Coast
of the U.S. and ask yourself if that's what you want with its gridlock
and crowding.
I have been to Tara and it was beautiful. Ireland is realizing that it
can make money (if that's really what's important and I guess it is to
politicians) off tourism and this is a reason to preserve what Ireland
has. Just like the wilderness areas of the U.S., people go to sites
like Tara to try to imagine a part of the past. That's hard to do when
surrounded with modern impingements.
Be proud of your history, Erin.
Laura Brennan
United States
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The man who was saying the M3 should be built on its current route is
gerrymandering - he is polling those in a very limited area and has no
right to refer to those who want it re-routed away from Tara as a
minority. Tara belongs to the entire country, not just the commuter
housing estates in Co. Meath, and in the entire country is clearly the
proponents of the current route who are the minority. Their 6,000
signatures were on a petition which they actively advertised and made
available in that town. Last time I checked the
petitiononline.com/hilltara petition, which suffers from the fact that
it is not well-known or in anyway advertised, it had almost 30,000
signatures, including, I am proud to say, my own. It is truly sad that
in spite of these facts, the Government will in our name, and with our
money, push through this totally unnecessary route.
David Watchorn
Ireland
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