Townsend Urges People to Let Their Voices be Heard and Save Tara

Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend at the Meteor Music Awards in Dublin

PRESS RELEASE

TARAWATCH.org

16 February 2008

'Townsend Urges People to Let Their Voices be Heard and Save Tara'

Dublin-born actor Stuart Townsend spoke out again against the M3 motorway being built in the Hill of Tara archaeological complex today at the premiere of his film 'Battle in Seattle' at the Dublin International Film Festival.

Written and directed by Townsend and starring Charlize Theron, 'Battle in Seattle' was screened at the Savoy in Dublin today at 11am and was followed by a post-screening discussion with the pair.

'Battle in Seattle' chronicles the protests at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle in 1999 and marks Townsend's feature directing debut.

During the discussion, he commented that:

"If more people had protested against the idea of building a road on such as important site, the Government would not have even tried to go ahead with it.

But he stressed it was not too late to reverse the project, and said:

"People should let their voices be heard. This fim shows what people power can do, and Tara should be no different.

His comments come at a critical time in the campaign, with a new High Court challenge launched last week by Gordon Lucas, and with ever-increasing bitter clashes between demonstroators and construction workers on the site.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

"Even though we have won the hearts and minds battle on this issue, with 2/3 of Irish people opposed to the M3 route in a recent Red C Opinion poll, our challenge is enabling people to forcefully express that opinion.

"We hope Stuarts consistent vocal opposition stirs a change of heart in the administration, and inspires more of the public to speak out.

"Stuart has also been working very hard behind the scenes to lobby Minister Gormley on this issue.

"We hope today's comments will help to put the matter into prespective for the Government, and will give the campaign a wider international profile.

ENDS