they are destroying Tara...

Minister: Let's build a motorway here. It'll be great for the people of this constituency!
Other Person: Yeah, but... the Hill of Tara is there. In fact, this whole area is of major historical and archaeological significance.
M: Piffle, that hasn't been used in years. We'll go straight through it! I can't think of a better symbol for Fianna Fáil's unyielding stranglehold over the Irish people.
OP: People are already protesting! Academics from all over the world are decrying the brutal destruction of this sacred monument!
M: Fuck that shit. Remember the election? That thing where the Irish people get together in a wonderful ceremony of democracy, and elect our coalition partners? That says that they want this to happen. That's a democratic mandate.
OP: But they voted the Green Party in. The Greens are now more powerful than they've ever been. Besides, everyone knows you got elected because of your economic policy, not because of your monument-destroying policy. Even the EU has called for you to halt work.
M: What do you want me to do? I'm just one man. Besides, we're preserving it!
OP: Really? Great!
M: Yeah. By record.
OP: By... by record.
M: Yes! We're gonna photograph it, sketch it and measure it before we bulldoze it to the ground. Maybe some day we'll rebuild it. Because that's the kind of thing a patriotic party like Fianna Fáil would do. Maybe we can rebuild it in Dublin...
OP: Look, you can just build a road around it instead of going through it.
M: Nope. Too much money. We can't use public money to form a useless monument bypass. That would be useless. What a stupid idea. What do you think your precious king of Tara would have done, eh? Is this hill going to ease congestion for the poor poor people of Meath?
OP: No, but it has-
M: Ha! I didn't think so. Admit it, it's absolutely useless. The great people of Meath don't need some silly old hill. They need the M3!
OP: This is a disgrace. It's one of the most important archaelogical sites in Ireland!
M: You weren't elected and I was. That's that. Where's your King of Tara now?
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The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours
Andrew Bird - Why? (live)
Robert Johnson - Love in Vain
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Excavation work at the national monument found in the path of the M3 motorway has begun this morning... Gardaí from Navan were called and after a discussion, the protestors stood aside and let the vehicles and the archaeologists pass.
Protestors claim the excavation of the site and its 'preservation by record' amounts to destruction, which they say is illegal under EU law. The Department of the Environment disputes the claim.
{RTE}
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The Lismullin site, thought to be over 2000 years old, was discovered during work on the road project in April and was later given national monument status.
In one of his final acts of office, former Minister for the Environment Dick Roche controversially signed an order of preservation by record for the site, meaning the prehistoric henge would be photographed, sketched and measured before being razed to make way for the motorway.
Following advice from the Attorney General, Mr Gormley said he had no power to review the order and state archaeologists claimed the ruins were too fragile to be preserved.
{The Irish Times}
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I was at the sod turning on the M3 only yesterday - and today an archaeological discovery was made. As promised work that might disturb the area was ceased and archaeologists were given space and time to work. They will then make a judgment about the significance of the find...
I hope that this discovery is not hijacked and used as a method of trying to stop the road.
{Minister Noel Dempsey}

(from this weblog: http://thetorturegarden.blogspot.com )

cf: http://porlacarretera.hautetfort.com/archive/2007/06/22/v...