It it a truism, if not a cliche, that the Irish people are obsessed with their history. Perhaps they are, but only up to a point, for when it comes to a decision between their heritage and their present convenience, there seems to be no contest. That celebrated connoisseur of Georgian silverware, Charles J. Haughey once asked what was so special about Georgian architecture, when his cronies were proposing to toss several rows of Georgian mansions in the city of Dublin in the 1980s.
The Irish government is determined to run a section of the proposed M3 motorway perilously close to the Hill of Tara, in County Meath, in such a manner as to inflict lasting damage to this most precious historic site, a relic from one era where myth and history are fused, an archaeological treasure which is ranked with Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and the Valley of the Kings on the banks of the Nile. I have visited the site on three occasions over the years and, whereas I am not particularly sensitive to the vibes of a given location or to the presence of historic forces, there was a palpable sensation of being present on a site where significant events have taken place, albeit thousands of years ago. The great Liath Fáil (Stone of Destiny) once stood here, and you can still discern in the grassy mounds the outline of the great palaces, places of assembly and banqueting halls. You can well understand how Tom Moore was moved to write his great classic song 'The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls'.
The site has survived the passing of the centuries, although its age is more properly measured in thousands, rather than hundreds, of years. It survived an extensive dig conducted in 1905-06 by a British outfit who were of the belief that Tara was the last resting place of the Ark of the Convenant. A crackpot notion, if you like, but testimony to the site's antiquity and significance.
It has been argued that the needs of the commuters of today have to be accommodated, and there has to be some sympathy with that view. However, the 'Tara' route is by no means the only option on offer. There are other routes that the road can take, but Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has refused to countenance them. It is a case of "my way or no way". This is the minister who squandered ¤52 million on electronic voting machines which were found to be unreliable and are still lying about in warehouses, at a cost of three-quarter of a million euros per annum to store. The minister is a member of a government which has forced people to commute from Meath to their jobs in Dublin, because they cannot afford to buy a home in the city.
This is not the first time that an important archaeological site has been threatened in Ireland. In the 1980s there was a danger that Eamhain Macha, the historic mound near Armagh, came close to being undermined by quarrying operations. The seat of the Red Branch Knights was preserved through an alliance of the SDLP and the DUP on the Armagh Borough Council.
Petitions have been coming in to Irish national newspapers from archaeologists and academics from Europe and the United States, making the point that Tara is such an important site, more of a landscape than a site, which taken with the evidence from other ancient settlements in Leinster, Ulster and Connacht, underline the essential unity of the people in Ireland at the time when these sites were thriving. One letter describes Tara as a "complex of monuments that, in combination with the topography, placenames, mythology and history make this an uniquely well-preserved place of international importance".
UNFSCO status of centres of civilisation and culture have been accorded to lesser places. The Hill of Tara belongs to all mankind, in the same sense as the great buildings on the Acropolis hill in Athens. These scholars wonder how the Irish authorities are so indifferent as to wantonly damage such an invaluable cultural asset. Old Ireland is still rearing them.
In the same county of Meath is the site of a proposed Heritage Centre on the banks of the Boyne, for which the Irish government has earmarked several millions of euros. No disrespect to the Battle of the Boyne and its place in Irish history, but it was not the most decisive battle of the Jacobite Wars of 1689-92. The Battle of Aughrim was a more important battle, and is mentioned in the chorus of 'The Sash' along with Derry, Enniskillen and the Boyne. Those with a serious concern for the past are not asking for any money to be spent on Tara; they simply ask that it be left alone.
Tara was the name given to the O'Hara mansion and plantation in Margaret Mitchell's novel of the American civil war, 'Gone With The Wind'. Towards the end of the novel Scarlett O'Hara wonders "Is Tara still standing?" Well might she ask.
In evidence, the court heard that the defendant, a young man not long left school, had been apprehended by the police whilst leaning out of the front passenger seat of a moving vehicle, making rude gestures, brandishing a bottle of spirits and directing obscenities at all and sundry, be they pedestrian or other road-users. In his defence, his solicitoirs said that the defendant was essentially a decent young lad, who was a member of a highly-respected local family. He had, unfortunately, fallen in with a gang of young teraways who indulged in this sort of behaviour as one of their tribal rituals but that all this not withstanding, he meant no real harm by sticking his head and arms out of motor cars.
"What you might call," said the RM, "hanging out with the wrong company."
A prominent veterinarian and recognised authority on cat care, one James R. Richards died recently of injuries he received in a motorcycle accident. According to the New York State Police, he was thrown from his motorcycle after he tried, without success, to avoid hitting a cat that had run into the road.
The BBC reports that Palestinian television has been inculcating children with Hamas propaganda by using "a Mickey Mouse lookalike". As distinct from the real Mickey Mouse?
And according to RTÉ, a Garda swoop on a counterfeiting racket's premises in Cork resulted in the seizure of hundreds of bootleg DVDs of the movie 'Superman 3'. This movie came out in 1978.
The actress Brooke Shields has announced, "Smoking kills and, if you are killed, you lose an important part of your life."
Irish Times columnist and co-writer of Ireland's entry in last Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest had an article in the paper on that day, headlined, "It isn't possible to lose here." Perhaps not, but it is possible to come 24th out of a field of 24.
As England prepares for the smoking ban on July 1, a pub in Cornwall has applied to be designated as a Peruvian consulate.
