EU committee calls for immediate halt to Tara site works

THE chairman of a powerful EU committee has called on the Government to immediately stop building works on the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

In a letter to Environment Minister John Gormley, the Petitions Committee of the EU Parliament says "urgent action" is needed to stop the works after the discovery of a national monument on the route.

Last May, it emerged that a prehistoric ritual site had been found at Lismullin in Co Meath, and a decision was later taken to destroy the national monument as it could not be preserved due to its poor condition. But opponents of the road scheme believe an environment impact assessment should have been carried out after the monument find to ensure no other sites of importance were present along the route.

Committee chairman Marcin Libicki, who visited Dublin last month to investigate the site, says members of his group have expressed extreme concern about the "serious damage" being caused to historic sites. "Urgent action is needed to halt existing works in this area and to review the routing of this section of the M3 motorway," the letter says.

Irish Independent