Motorway Development
The M3 motorway, owned by Siac Construction and Cintra, S.A., which opened in June 2010, passes through the Tara-Skryne Valley - as does the existing N3 road. Protesters argue that since the Tara Discovery Programme started in 1992, there is an appreciation that the Hill of Tara is just the central complex of a wider landscape. The distance between the motorway and the exact site of the Hill is 2.2 km (1.4 mi) - it intersects the old N3 at the Blundelstown interchange between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skyrne. The presence of this interchange situated in the valley has led to allegations that further development is planned near Tara. An alternative route approximately 6 km west of the Hill of Tara is claimed to be a straighter, cheaper and less destructive alternative. On Sunday 23 September 2007 over 1500 people met on the hill of Tara to take part in a human sculpture representing a harp and spelling out the words "SAVE TARA VALLEY" as a call for the rerouting of the M3 motorway away from Tara valley. Actors Stuart Townsend and Jonathan Rhys Meyers attended this event.
The Hill of Tara was included in the World Monuments Fund's 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. It was included, in 2009, in the 15 must-see endangered cultural treasures in the world by the Smithsonian Institution.
There is currently a letter writing campaign being undertaken to preserve the Hill of Tara.
Read more about this topic: Hill Of Tara
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