Tara Parliamentary Group Proposed, to Launch Problem-Solving Initiative

Senator David Norris (left) reads parliamentary Questions while Vincent Salafia talks to Shane McEntee, TD (FG)

Tarawatch seeks parliamentary group

Irish Times - Breaking News: 02 July 2009

ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ

Campaign group Tarawatch has written to members of the Oireachtas inviting them to establish a parliamentary group with the intention of lobbying Government on issues relating to the Hill of Tara. Several opposition and independent TDs and Senators, including newly-elected Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan and Senator David Norris were presented with a list of questions for the Government by members of Tarawatch at Dáil Éireann yesterday.

Tarawatch spokesman Vincent Salafia subsequently wrote to the politicians who attended asking them to establish a parliamentary group. He said the group would not only seek to identify a solution to protect the national monument but would also attempt to find a solution that would meet the needs of sustainable development and transport in Co Meath.

“We feel that it is the responsibility of the elected representatives both at European and national level to work in a co-operative manner on this,” Mr Salafia said today. “It would be a platform for all the groups involved to present their opinions and have their say in what the final outcome is. Tara belongs to everybody in Ireland. The majority of Irish people want to have Tara protected. Its not that it’s against the M3 per se - most of the people who want to protect Tara are quite happy for the M3 to proceed – they just don’t want it to go where it is."

EU Speak out on Tara

EU Speak out on Tara

South Meath Post 30-9-08
by Evan Short

Tarawatch anti M3 protesters claimed last week to have been backed by the EU in their continuing campaign against the motorway.

According to Vincent Salafia, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament has expressed its "ongoing concern" regarding the impact of the M3 on the Hill of Tara archaeological complex and the demolition of the Lismullin National Monument.

In its annual activity report from 2007 released last Wednesday, the Committee commented specifically on the absence of any assesment in advance of a 2007 decision to remove a national monument situated at Lismullin in the path of the M3 Motorway project near Tara in County Meath.

The Lismullin Henge, described by the American Archaeological Journal as one of its most signiicant finds of 2007, was removed in January to permit the M3 to go ahead. According to Vincent Salafia, the comments were a welcome boost for Campaigners.

" We welcome the ongoing concern of the Petitions Committee in this matter and urge the EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas to speed up his legal action against Ireland over Tara.The M3 isstill 3 years from completion as it has been delayed due to multiple sub contractors withdrawing from the project, and there is still plenty of time to resolve this issue"