TARA

ONE OF TEN Top Archaeological Discoveries of 2007

Early in 2007, archaeologists working on the route of a controversial highway near the village of Lismullin, Ireland, stumbled across a vast Iron Age ceremonial enclosure, or henge, surrounded by two concentric walls. The 2,000-year-old site is just over a mile from the Hill of Tara, traditional seat of the ancient Irish kings and site of St. Patrick's conversion of the Irish to Christianity in the fifth century A.D. The discovery of the massive henge, measuring more than 260 feet in diameter, confirms the long-held belief that the area around the hill contains a rich complex of monuments.

Listening to the National Road Authorities employed Archaeologists at a recent Lecture series they are giving in the National Museum, Dublin, an ever greater rage and despair at the dumb greed for a tourist market descends on me. The Fianna Fail Government shall be condemned for a long long time for this completely unneccessary desecration of our ancient history. The archaeological reports of this and all 64 discoveries under the tarmacadam route confer the extraordinary negligence and insult to Irish history of the newly ensconsed Green party. Environment MinisterJohn Gormley neglected to engage with UNESCO in reference to this entire landscape immediately he was elected - even though Monsieur Bandarin has repeatedly reported and enquired about this important matter for the purposes of declaring a UNESCO Heritage Site.

It is now unfortunately obvious that speculation on land to enable a tourist bonanza here is some kind of Fianna Fail joke:"It is all in the past..."Jocelyn Braddell editor.