From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded on behalf of Colman Etchingham

________________________________

From: Colman Etchingham
Colman.Etchingham[at]MAY.IE

This is the programme of the Eighteenth Irish Conference of Medievalists.

Further information will be found on our web-site at
www.geocities.com/irishmedievalists

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

THURSDAY 24 JUNE
Session A
2.00 pm Jenifer Ní Ghrádaigh Medieval Kilkenny and its surrounds: fresh
evidence from the sketchbooks of James Graves
3.00 pm Manuela Santos Silva The landscape of Portuguese medieval towns
3.30 pm Adelaide Millán da Costa The urban oligarchies of Portugal in the
fifteenth century

Session B
2.00 pm Hariet Thomsett De Fhoillsigud Tána Bó Cuailgne: recensions and
relationships
2.30 pm Clodagh Downey Cúán ua Lothcháin: attributions and affiliations
3.00 pm Petra Helmuth 'Xenophobic or purely fictional?' Accounts of the
Vikings in early Irish literature
3.30 pm Tatyana Mikhailova Mugrón's Lorica and its Slavonic parallels: the
enumeration of the parts of the body

4.00 pm Tea/Coffee
Session A
4.30 pm Miriam Clyne Holy Trinity Abbey, Lough Key
5.30 pm Jim Galloway The economic hinterland of Drogheda in the later middle
ages

Session B
4.30 pm Brian Lacey The Northern Uí Néill: another genealogical fabrication?
5.30 pm Anne Connon Áth an Termoinn revisited: a new suggestion for the Ua
Conchobair inauguration site of 1106

6.00 pm Reception and Formal Conference Opening


FRIDAY 25 JUNE
Session A
9.30 am Mari Tanaka An eye for an eye: the refusal of marriage episode in
the early Lives of Brigit
10.00 am Maxim Fomin De rege iniquo section of De duodecim abusiuis by
Ps.-Cyprian: in search of the source
Session B
9.30 am Jürgen Zeidler The origin of the ogam script revisited
10.30 am Graham Isaac Cormac's Pictish brooch: a linguistic commentary

11.00 am Tea/Coffee
11.30 am
Session A Michael Brennan The interlace programme of a Rogart brooch
Session B Thomas Charles-Edwards The Notulae and the province of Leinster

12.30 pm Lunch
Session A
2.00 pm Colmán Ó Clabaigh The Friars and their foes in late medieval Ireland
3.00 pm Patricia Walsh Kilmaclenine and the medieval diocese of Cloyne
3.30 pm Herminia Vasconcelos Vilar Kings and bishops: the Portuguese
episcopate in the first half of the fifteenth century

Session B
2.00 pm Caoimhín Breatnach The orthography of Irish proper nouns in Codex
Salmanticensis
3.00 pm Bernadette Cunningham The autograph manuscripts of the Annals of the
Four Masters: the Patrician material compared

4.00 pm Tea/Coffee

Session A
4.30 pm Joanna Agnieszka Skórzewska The good priest and women
5.00 pm Freya Verstraten Medieval profiteers? Alliances and assimilation
among the Uí Fhearghail of Anghaile and the English of Meath
Session B
4.30 pm Eric Graff Chasing Daedalus in Eriugena's Periphyseon
5.30 pm Gregory Toner The theological background of Pangur Bán

6.00 pm Recess

7.30 pm John Bradley Inspection of Kilkenny Manuscripts (Tholsel)


SATURDAY 26 JUNE
Session A
9.30 am Clare Downham The vikings in Leinster to 1014
10.30 am Michael Gibbons The Viking west: a populist chimera?

Session B
9.30 am Miho Tanaka Iona and the kingship of Dál Ríata in Adomnán's Vita
Columbae
10.00 am Fiona Edmonds Irish sources and English history: a re-examination
of some Irish traditions relating to the Northumbrian church
10.30 am Máire Niamh Johnson A braided strand: Welsh-Irish relations in the
medieval chronicle Brut y Twysogion

11.00 am Tea/Coffee
Session A
11.30 am Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha Irish involvement in the crusades
12.00 Hermenegildo Fernandes Political turmoil and social crisis in the
Atlantic: Portugal and the almohad Morocco in a comparative perspective
(first half of the thirteenth century)
Session B
11.30 am Nicholas Evans The distribution of news in medieval Ireland: the
evidence of the Irish chronicles in the tenth and eleventh centuries

12.30pm Lunch
Session A
2.00 pm Mark Stansbury The composition of Adomnán's Vita Columbae
3.00 pm Catherine Swift Patrick and Kildare

Session B
2.00 pm Alex Woolf The world turned upside down: Dún Nechtain, Fortriu and
the provinces of the Picts
3.00 pm Colmán Etchingham The location of historical Laithlinn/Lochlann:
Scotland or Scandinavia?
4.00 pm Tea/Coffee
4.30 pm
Session A Donnchadh Ó Corráin Orosius and Ireland
Session B Roy Flechner The church of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis


5.00 pm ICM agm

7.30 ICM dinner

SUNDAY 27 JUNE
9.30 am Field trip to medieval sights and monuments in Co. Kilkenny (not
visited in 2003)

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded on behalf of...

Executive Officer
Centre for Gender and Women's Studies
Trinity College

Subject: Vacancy - Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, TCD

The University of Dublin
Trinity College

Assistant Director of Research
in the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies

Salary Range: ?35,000 - ?40,000

Because of a change in starting dates, the Centre for Gender and Women's
Studies is re-advertising for the position of Assistant Director of
Research. Funding is guaranteed for three years for an enhanced Research
Unit. The position requires a dynamic and committed research - scholar to
assist the Director, Dr. Maryann Valiulis, in pursuing the Centre's research
agenda and relevant contract research. The research agenda of the Centre
includes, but is not limited to, the following areas: Education and
Equality; Parenting; Work-Life Balance.

Among qualifications, applicants should have:
. Ph.D. in Women's Studies or related field
. Track record in securing grants
. Three-five years experience in research

For a fuller candidate profile, please visit our website:
www.tcd.ie/Staff_Office

Starting Date: September, 2004

Applicant should send a full current curriculum vitae, a covering letter
outlining particular skills, experiences and interests, a one page outline
of individual research plan, a sample of a successful grant proposal or
final report, and the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of three
referees to:

Recruitment Executive, Staff Office, Trinity College, Dublin 2
Email: recruit[at]tcd.ie

Applicants who have previously applied are welcome to add additional
information to their applications at the above address.

Attendance at the interview is at the candidate's own expense.

Additional Information about the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies is
available at: www.tcd.ie/Womens_Studies/

Closing date not later than: 12 noon on Friday, 30th April 2004.

Trinity College is an equal opportunities employer.

****************************

Executive Officer
Centre for Gender and Women's Studies
Trinity College
Dublin 2
Ireland
Ph: (353 1) 608 2225
Fax: (353 1) 608 3997
Website: http://www.tcd.ie/Womens_Studies/

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Two Housekeeping items to do with Majordomo, the software which runs the
Irish-Diaspora list...

1.
Some of you may have seen - in discussion about 'spam', the flood of
unwanted commercial email - that there is a potential security leak in the
Majordomo software, whereby a spammer can send a simple instruction to the
software and get from it all the email addresses on a specific email list.

The Majordomo software was written a long time ago, in software terms, and
in more innocent days - and has not been changed much since.

But I spotted that potential security leak many years ago, and made sure
that the University of Bradford used the version of Majordomo that had the
leak plugged. So, it is not a problem for the Irish-Diaspora list.

(For more on the Majordomo software read my Bad Tempered Guide to Majordomo,
on irish-diaspora.net...)

In fact we have had, ever, only one example of a person using Irish-Diaspora
list email addresses for commercial purposes, that person was not actually a
member of the Ir-D list, and that problem was promptly dealt with.

The spam problem is wearisome. The spammers will have got email addresses
from web sites, public discussion lists and what are called 'dictionary
attacks', which put every possible combination of letters and numbers in
front of a domain name.

2.
However...

In a mirror image of this, the Irish-Diaspora list and the Majordomo
software are having problems with anti-spam software.

Left to their own devices your organisation's anti-spam systems, or your own
anti-spam software, will decide that Irish-Diaspora list messages sent
through Majordomo are spam. The way that Majordomo works is very like the
way that spam distribution works.

The first indication we get of new anti-spam systems in place in some
organisation is when Irish-Diaspora list messages are returned to us, having
failed to reach an Ir-D list member. Very often the anti-spam systems will
also automatically blacklist our own domain names or our internet service
provider. So that email attempts to alert the Ir-D member to the problem
are also rejected.

We then have no option but to delete that Ir-D member's email address from
the Irish-Diaspora list. That person will get no more Irish-Diaspora list
messages. We can only hope that they notice this, and contact us again.

At this stage all I can do is alert Irish-Diaspora list members to the
problem. Please find out how your organisation's anti-spam systems work,
and try to find a route through for Ir-D messages.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: MOBrien[at]franciscan.edu
Subject: The Irish and U.S. Immigration Restriction in the 1920s
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 08:27:44 -0500

Although I agree with the statement that there was a serios resurgence in
anti-Irish Catholic prejudice in the United States during the 1920s (as can
be see by the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, for example), I don't think that Dr.
Vought's notion of ethnic payback toward the Irish holds up very well when
talking about the Immigration Restriction Acts of 1920.
This legislation actually had a very small effect on Irish transatlantic
migration. These acts established the National Origins Quotas for the
allotment of entrance visas to European countries, but this system was
primarily aimed at southern and eastern Europeans. The Irish actually
enjoyed a relatively generous quota. In fact, when the criteria for the
quotas was shifted (to figures from an earlier census) with the second act
in 1927, President Coolidge even took steps to increase the number of Irish
visas (by about 15%) in order to avoid antagonizing Irish-American
congressmen. Irish applicants actually enjoyed a surplus of available visas
throughout the rest of the 1920s.
There were a couple of important changes in immigration policy during the
1920s, but these were mostly procedural in nature, and didn't really have
much of an effect until the Depression of the early 1930s.
By the mid-1920s it was apparent that the health-screening provisions of
American policy were not working effectively. Visa applicants were required
to pass health exams in their country of origin before embarking for the
U.S., but it became clear that Irish doctors were extremely reluctant to
refuse clearance to their patients. So in 1925 American doctors were
assigned to the Irish embassy to administer these tests.
Second, in 1917 the American congress passed an immigration act included
a "Likely to Become a Public Charge" clause that required visa applicants
to demonstrate that they had the means to live independently upon their
arrival in the U.S. In June 1929 the U.S. government effectively raised the
bar for this requirement, requiring visa applicants to show that they had
the means to cope with the increasingly ominous economic conditions in the
U.S. This
LPC charge became especially important when conditions continued to worsen
through the early 1930s.
For a longer account of the role of the Depression in the decline of
transatlantic migration between Ireland and the U.S. during the interwar
period, you can see my article "Transatlantic Connections and the Great
Depression" in Kevin Kenny (ed.), New Directions in Irish-American History,
(Wisconsin, 2003) or the same article in the Spring-Summer 2002 issue of
Eire-Ireland.



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From: Don MacRaild
Subject: O'Leary, Irish in Modern Wales
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 16:37:05 +0100

Dear All,

I've been travelling a bit, recently, and I hope I didn't miss a recent
posting about Paul O'Leary's exciting new edited collection, The Irish in
Modern Wales, which is just published by Liverpool University Press. It is
available in paperback at £20.00 (ISBN0 85323 858 8). I was in Liverpool and
Robin Bloxsidge pressed a copy into my hand. I told him, at once, that I
would ask Paddy to put a brief review on the list -- so here it is.

As many of you will know, the Irish in Wales have been subject to relatively
little scholarly study. John Hickey pioneered a field of study which is now
vibrant. The present volume of essays is timely. It includes many authors,
and authors whose work is familiar to us. The book revisits traditional
themes but also introduces new issues. Frank Neal extends his considerations
of the Famine Irish with a penetrating examination of the coal trade and
Irish 'refugee crisis'. John Hickey, in a essay published posthumously,
revisits the Irish of Cardiff; Chris Williams examines the Newport scene;
and an interesting northern angle is given by Peter Jones on Wrexham, a town
which had an Irish mayor as early as 1876. Louise Miskell, in an essay on
anti-Irish violence, reminds us that, whilst the Irish in Wales may have
melted into the wider population over time, the path to acceptance could be
dangerous. Certainly, the violence of the 1830s and 40s was as bad in Wales
as anywhere; and, as in Lancashire and Cumbria, some sectarian violence was
still occurring in the 1880s. Elsewhere, in Cumbria for example, a lot of
the Orange-Green trouble was fought by Irishman upon Irishman, something
which I have probably underplayed in my own work. But in a novel turn,
Miskell locates violence against the Irish in Wales in wider pool of social
violence: this was, after all, the country that in the 1830s and 1840s gave
us the Newport Rising and the Rebecca Riots. The framework she creates may
well help us to understand anti-Irish violence more generally.

The volume does not, however, propound an anti-integrationist line. Nor does
it ignore difficulties on the road to integration. O'Leary asserts that, in
Wales, the absence of Orangeism and the power of Gladstonian Liberalism,
made integration or assimilation more likely. John Hickey certainly shows
'ethnic fade' in operation in Cardiff. O'Leary's own piece, an examination
of the cult of respectability among the Wales Irish, explores some of the
channels through integration occurred. Jon Lewis's Newport demonstrates
examples of ethnic blending, not ethnic fade, and a recognition of the Irish
contribution to society. The volume finishes with two interesting pieces,
each addressing new terrain, or old territory in a new way. Jon Parry's
consideration of the 'Black Hand', 1916 and Irish prisoners in North Wales,
reconstructs an iconic moment, and Neil Evans sets the Irish into the wider
history of migration history in Wales more generally.

The value of each contribution is clear enough to the reader. The importance
of the Irish in Wales is asserted and demonstrated throughout. The volume
moves the debate about Irish integration onwards: there are clearly things
in the book for all of to think about. How far the experience of the Irish
in Wales is typical, or unique, isn't yet known. It certainly wasn't like
Lancashire or Cumbria, with respect to integration, but those places aren't
typical, either. Regional and national cultures are like that. So, this
volume adds to the patchwork. But it is a patchwork, not a broad cloth.

Don MacRaild
Northumbria



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From: Peter Hart
Subject: Re: Ir-D Irish in Wales book review

I am glad to have been informed of this most interesting looking book but I
notice it is so recently published it does not seem to appear on the Press
website or within the reach of Google!

Peter Hart

At 06:20 PM 01/04/2004 +0100, you wrote:
>
>
>From: Don MacRaild
>Subject: O'Leary, Irish in Modern Wales
>Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 16:37:05 +0100
>
>Dear All,
>
>I've been travelling a bit, recently, and I hope I didn't miss a recent
>posting about Paul O'Leary's exciting new edited collection, The Irish in
>Modern Wales, which is just published by Liverpool University Press. It is
>available in paperback at £20.00 (ISBN0 85323 858 8). I was in Liverpool and
>Robin Bloxsidge pressed a copy into my hand. I told him, at once, that I
>would ask Paddy to put a brief review on the list -- so here it is.
>
>As many of you will know, the Irish in Wales have been subject to relatively
>little scholarly study. John Hickey pioneered a field of study which is now
>vibrant. The present volume of essays is timely. It includes many authors,
>and authors whose work is familiar to us. The book revisits traditional
>themes but also introduces new issues. Frank Neal extends his considerations
>of the Famine Irish with a penetrating examination of the coal trade and
>Irish 'refugee crisis'. John Hickey, in a essay published posthumously,
>revisits the Irish of Cardiff; Chris Williams examines the Newport scene;
>and an interesting northern angle is given by Peter Jones on Wrexham, a town
>which had an Irish mayor as early as 1876. Louise Miskell, in an essay on
>anti-Irish violence, reminds us that, whilst the Irish in Wales may have
>melted into the wider population over time, the path to acceptance could be
>dangerous. Certainly, the violence of the 1830s and 40s was as bad in Wales
>as anywhere; and, as in Lancashire and Cumbria, some sectarian violence was
>still occurring in the 1880s. Elsewhere, in Cumbria for example, a lot of
>the Orange-Green trouble was fought by Irishman upon Irishman, something
>which I have probably underplayed in my own work. But in a novel turn,
>Miskell locates violence against the Irish in Wales in wider pool of social
>violence: this was, after all, the country that in the 1830s and 1840s gave
>us the Newport Rising and the Rebecca Riots. The framework she creates may
>well help us to understand anti-Irish violence more generally.
>
>The volume does not, however, propound an anti-integrationist line. Nor does
>it ignore difficulties on the road to integration. O'Leary asserts that, in
>Wales, the absence of Orangeism and the power of Gladstonian Liberalism,
>made integration or assimilation more likely. John Hickey certainly shows
>'ethnic fade' in operation in Cardiff. O'Leary's own piece, an examination
>of the cult of respectability among the Wales Irish, explores some of the
>channels through integration occurred. Jon Lewis's Newport demonstrates
>examples of ethnic blending, not ethnic fade, and a recognition of the Irish
>contribution to society. The volume finishes with two interesting pieces,
>each addressing new terrain, or old territory in a new way. Jon Parry's
>consideration of the 'Black Hand', 1916 and Irish prisoners in North Wales,
>reconstructs an iconic moment, and Neil Evans sets the Irish into the wider
>history of migration history in Wales more generally.
>
>The value of each contribution is clear enough to the reader. The importance
>of the Irish in Wales is asserted and demonstrated throughout. The volume
>moves the debate about Irish integration onwards: there are clearly things
>in the book for all of to think about. How far the experience of the Irish
>in Wales is typical, or unique, isn't yet known. It certainly wasn't like
>Lancashire or Cumbria, with respect to integration, but those places aren't
>typical, either. Regional and national cultures are like that. So, this
>volume adds to the patchwork. But it is a patchwork, not a broad cloth.
>
>Don MacRaild
>Northumbria


------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Bruce Stewart"
To:
Subject: Re: Ir-D Conference, History of the Irish Book

Russell

Ir-D members - and Sylvie Mikowski - might like to know that I've added the
programme link to the EIRData Conference page.

www.pgil-eirdata.org Front Page
http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_bulletin/index.htm Conference Table.

Bonne chance, Bruce


- ----- Original Message -----
>
> From Russell Murray (r.c.murray[at]Bradford.ac.uk)
>
> Forwarded On Behalf Of Sylvie MIKOWSKI
> Subject: History of the Irish Book Conference in Troyes (France)
>
> The full programme of the international "History of the Irish Book"
> Conference to be held in Troyes (Aube) on May 6 and 7 2004 is now
available
> on the following web site, together with a registration form and some
useful
> information.
> http://www.uhb.fr/langues/cei/troyes/progtroyes04.html
>
>

From: Zuzka48[at]aol.com
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 23:23:12 EST
Subject: Irish in Wales Review

I was pleasantly surprised that Paul O'leary's book is now published with a
chapter done by my late husband, John. I have send it around to people here
and a few friends in the UK. I would like to find out how I might be able to
get a few copies for myself and our children to have. Thank you for your kind
words about John.

Susan Hickey



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Bruce Stewart"
To:
Subject: Homeless Boys of New York
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 17:00:59 +0100

I was looking up a certain Rev. John Christopher Drumgoole, an Irish
priestly philanthropist born in Co. Longford in 1816 who tackled the problem
of homeless boys New York in the 1880s and founded St. Joseph's Union, and
later the farm on Staten Island before his death in 1888. The incidental
details in the various narratives are horrifying. While the Catholic
Encyclopedia gives its usual comprehensive and dignified account at
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05164b.htm,

- - the entry in History Buff at

http://www.historybuff.com/library/refdrumgoole.html

contains the following paragraphs: "Thousands of immigrant children were
driven from their home by poverty. They lived by their wits on the streets
of the city. There are no relative figures, but a good estimate would be
30,000 deserted kids living in the streets of lower Manhattan; sleeping out
like alley cats. These conditions existed for over fifty years.

[...]

As late as 1890, forty-six hundred [4,600] kids were arrested for
drunkenness and petty crimes. On a average day, one hundred boys were picked
up and locked in the tombs with hardened criminals. One-half of the boys
would have to be treated for venereal disease. [...]."

This is decidedly not a tale of clerical abuse. Apart from praise for Fr.
Drumgoole and the St Vincent de Paul (which opened the first refuge), one is
spurred to reflect on the slice of reality captured in Gangs of New York and
the slice of reality which it inevitably eschews.

I'm sorry to persist in such a depressing vein, but am reminded of a feature
article in the Guardian Weekly some time ago about the tragedy of child rape
in African countries where sex with virgins is believed to cure AIDS. The
article writer noted that the first recorded instance of a syndrome
involving horrific for girls who became pregnant at an immature age
concerned an Irish girl in Boston, presumably of immigrant parentage.
Unfortunately I have forgotten the name of the syndrome or the girl.

It would be wrong to suggest that Irish families were particularly prone to
either kind of tragedy ... but were they? Does anybody know?

Bruce



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 14:21:09 -0500
Subject: The planned destruction of Tara

The document that follows presents a more detailed account of our
concerns. It outlines how the landscape of Tara has been re-identified
through archaeological and historical analysis and explains how this
landscape will be impacted by the proposed development. It also
enumerates the numbers of known sites and monuments that are directly
threatened by this development and demonstrates how the NRA has sought
to play-down the impact of this motorway on this unique landscape.



Dr Edel Breathnach was Tara Research Fellow of the Discovery Programmes
Tara Literary and Historical Project from 1992-2001. She is presently a
post-doctoral research fellow at the Micheál Ó Cléirigh Institute,
University College Dublin.
Mr Conor Newman was director of the Discovery Programmes Archaeological
Survey of Tara from 1992-96. He is a lecturer in Archaeology at the
National University of Ireland, Galway.
Mr Joseph Fenwick was chief field archaeologist of the Discovery
Programmes Archaeological Survey of Tara 1992-95. He is currently
Archaeological Field Officer at the Dept. of Archaeology, National
University of Ireland, Galway.


The Impact of the Proposed M3 Motorway on Tara
and its Cultural Landscape

by
Edel Bhreathnach Conor Newman Joseph Fenwick



Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot
in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind it.
(Douglas Hyde, George Moore and William Butler Yeats, The Times, 27th
June 1902.)



1. Introduction


The Hill of Tara emerges from prehistory around the beginning of the 7th
century AD, as the pre-eminent pagan sanctuary and centre of kingship in
Ireland. The kings of Tara claimed national authority. This elevated
status was built upon four thousand years of continuous use of the hill
as a ceremonial complex which consisted of a necropolis, a sanctuary and
a temple complex. This manifold use is evident in the archaeological
record. Tara is traditionally, central to the story of St. Patrick's
conversion of the Irish to Christianity and is the setting for most of
the important early Irish sagas. The hill became the touchstone of the
Irish political and cultural nationalist movements of 19th and 20th
century, its integrity acclaimed and defended by leading figures in the
formation of the Irish nation. This position was most vociferously
expressed during the campaign waged against the British-Israelites'
explorations for the Ark of the Covenant. Tara's uniquely important
position and its potential to yield information about Irish culture and
history, was acknowledged by an Taoiseach Eamon de Valera who turned the
first sod of Professor Séan P. Ó Ríordáin's 1953 excavation campaign.
Following Ó Ríordáin's untimely death, his campaign was brought to a
successful conclusion by the Taoiseach's son, Professor Ruaidhrí de
Valera. This historical association was transferred to a third
generation of this modern political dynasty when Minister Síle de Valera
turned the first sod on the Discovery Programme's excavations in 1997.
The threat posed to Tara by that section of the M3 motorway designed to
pass between the Hill of Tara and Skreen raises serious cultural issues.
The motorway's impact on Tara is specifically addressed in this
document. As the leading experts on the history and archaeology of Tara,
whose research has been funded by the Discovery Programme (a
state-funded body) since 1991, we feel that we are singularly
well-qualified to comment on how this proposed motorway will effect Tara
and its landscape. We can assess, from a position of knowledge, the
relevant parts of the published Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and
associated documentation produced for the planning process. It is our
contention that, as planned, the motorway will generate an unacceptable
impact, direct and indirect, on the archaeological complex of Tara. In
this document we consider a number of different, though clearly
interrelated, issues, ranging from the proposed motorway's impact on the
archaeological landscape to its detrimental effect on the experience of
visiting the hill. We examine how the EIS and subsequent interpretations
produced by the National Roads Authority have failed to provide a true
reckoning of the potential numbers of archaeological sites and monuments
directly affected by the construction of the road and how, instead, they
attempt to down-play the measure of impact.

2. The archaeological and historical landscape of Tara

The monuments around Tara cannot be viewed in isolation, or as
individual sites, but must be seen in the context of an intact
archaeological landscape..
(N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Route Selection, Margaret Gowen Ltd., August
2000, paragraph 7.3)

A considerable amount is known about the archaeological and historical
landscape of Tara, to the extent that it can be mapped out with some
confidence. This is due to the reasonably good preservation of key
archaeological sites in this rural landscape and the unprecedented
amount of documentary references to Tara, from as early as the 7th
century AD. From an archaeological point of view, this landscape
achieves its clearest shape during the later prehistoric and early
historic periods (c. 3rd century BC - 5th century AD), a period that saw
the encircling of Tara by a defensive ring of fortifications and linear
embankments. The space described by these monuments represents the core
of the Tara complex as defined not by archaeologists or historians but
by our ancestors. To be sure, these monuments represent the best
defensive positions in the immediate vicinity of the Hill of Tara and
the lands that they once defended extend some distance beyond them, but
at the very least this motorway should avoid this core zone. Identified
during the Discovery Programme's intensive analysis of Tara (1992 to the
present), information about this defensive cordon is in the public
domain. Its existence is acknowledged in the EIS, where it is conceded
that proposed motorway transgresses it.

The Zone of Archaeological Protection
Common misconceptions exist about the historical relationship between
the monuments on the crown of the Hill of Tara and those in its
immediate vicinity; where Tara begins and ends as a cultural and
archaeological entity; and, how these definitions have been recognised
in law and in planning interventions initiated by the heritage services.
That Tara does not begin and end with the monuments in State ownership
on the hill is recognised in some measure by the fact that throughout
the 1980s and 1990s the Zone of Archaeological Protection, as marked on
the SMR maps, described a slightly larger area than simply the
State-owned land. However, in response to the Discovery Programmes
analysis of the immediate hinterland of Tara, around 1997/8 Duchas
re-defined this Archaeological Zone as an ellipse some 6km in diameter
around the Hill of Tara (Kilfeather, A. of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd 2000
N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Route Selection, paragraph 3.4) with the
intention of imposing archaeological conditions on all planning
applications falling within this larger zone. This enlarged zone is
acknowledged in the EIS (Vol. 4A, section 13, subsection 13.1, paragraph
5 p. 165), as is the fact that the proposed motorway transgresses it.
As presently defined, the Zone of Archaeological Protection around the
Hill of Tara affords some level of heritage monitoring in this important
landscape. Though informed generally by archaeological and historical
analysis, the zone is primarily a planning guideline and is not intended
to define or describe the limits of the Tara complex. Therefore, the
question of whether the proposed road occurs inside or outside this zone
is largely irrelevant.

Archaeological & Historical Landscapes
Archaeologists and historians approach the task of defining cultural
landscapes through integrated analysis of data from a wide range of
sources, such as sites and monuments, cartographic and historical
documents, topography, geology, soils and drainage, and placenames.
Landscapes thus defined are nothing less than the places that people
made of the spaces in which they found themselves, their homelands.
Landscapes provide the myriad of things required to maintain human
society, from generating its cultural and territorial identity to
sustaining its economic well-being.

The Tara Landscape through Archaeology
Analysis of the Tara archaeological landscape is on-going and has made
significant advancements over the past decade. Research to date has
demonstrated that the crown of the Hill of Tara is principally a burial
ground and temenos (sanctuary). The impressive concentration of
monuments around the summit confirms that the hill was the focal point
of a larger ritual and political landscape, with associated settlement
sites, and more religious sites, extending into the surrounding
countryside. In early prehistory (c. 4000-1500 BC), these tend to
concentrate in the area immediately to the east of Tara, with a
particular concentration in the fertile and well-drained valley between
the Hill of Tara and Skreen, extending in the direction of Dunshaughlin.
Indeed, the extant monuments provide unequivocal proof of this simply
because there are more sites here than anywhere else in the immediate
vicinity of the Hill of Tara. Archaeological analysis elsewhere in
Ireland and Britain has demonstrated that although the visible component
of the record is strongly biased in favour of funerary monuments, their
presence is a reliable indicator of the rather more ephemeral remains of
associated settlement sites. This interpretation is confirmed by the
geophysical survey carried out as part of the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) as well as by the general orientation of the earliest
monuments on the summit that are deliberately placed to be observed from
the east --they are virtually invisible from the west.
Later prehistory heralded an extension and increased regulation of the
ceremonial landscape of Tara, a phenomenon that in many ways prefaced
the creation of the ferann ríg, or royal demesne of Tara. Defensive
earthworks were built around Tara.. These can be traced extending
eastwards towards Duleek and northwards as far as the Boyne. Rosnaree,
across-river from Knowth, is a royal settlement of the kings of Tara,
while to the south-east of it is the former location of the Painestown
ogam stone, a monument possibly commemorating one of the Leinster kings
of Tara. The Hill of Tara itself is more closely encircled by a group of
strategically-positioned hillforts and an enormous linear earthwork, the
configuration of which creates an inner zone of demarcation and defence,
leaving no doubt about the traditional and continued importance of this
area around the Birth of Christ and into the first few centuries AD. To
the immediate east of Tara this territorial line is defined by the
promontory forts of Rath Lugh and Edoxtown, near Skryne and Rathfeigh
respectively. The proposed motorway ignores and transgresses this line
and will, therefore, destroy the spatial and visual integrity of the
archaeological and historical landscape of Tara, as well as removing
from it key component monuments. Moreover, commanding a high promontory
overlooking Lismullin, Rath Lugh was probably designed to control, inter
alia, access through the valley between Tara and Skryne, for this is the
principal entrance into this landscape from the north. If this
development goes ahead, Rath Lugh will merely overlook, from a distance
of 100m, a motorway, which would be a rather ignominious end for a once
proud and important monument.
Monuments on the Hill of Tara itself that relate to this period include
the hillfort of Ráith Lóegaire and multi-vallate enclosure known as
Ráith na Senad which yielded an important collection of Roman objects
providing a 2nd to 5th century date for this monument.
The Early Medieval Period saw the construction of the ringfort, Tech
Cormaic, within the summit enclosure of Ráith na Ríg which is attached
to the east side of the Forrad (the assembly and inauguration mound on
Tara). There can be no doubt that some of the enclosures and other
features revealed in recent geophysical survey and excavation on the
crown of the hill also belong to this phase of activity. Indeed, there
is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the so-called Tech
Midchúarta (Banquet Hall) may also be an Early Medieval construction.
While this archaeological evidence provides an intriguing counter-point
to documentary evidence of abandonment a little later in the Early
Medieval Period, there is no questioning the elite status of Tech
Cormaic, and those who occupied it, in the settlement hierarchy of Early
Medieval Meath. A royal crannóg was built at Lagore, on the east side of
Dunshaughlin, close to the monastery of St. Sechnall (Secundinus), which
consequently enjoyed royal patronage. These two events, the founding of
the monastery and the building of the crannóg, confirm that Dunshaughlin
and its environs are part of the broader archaeological landscape of Tara.

The Tara Landscape through History
Whereas the above outlines how the Tara landscape might be defined using
archaeological information, historical sources also provide important
insights into the landscape of Tara. Early sources confirm that Tara is
not a hill that stands alone in County Meath without connection to its
hinterland. A common and universal mistake in the presentation of Tara
in official and popular literature is to regard Tara as consisting
simply of the monuments on the ridge in the townlands of Castleboy and
Castletown Tara. In a manner similar to the Boyne Valley complex,
Rathcroghan, Co. Roscommon and Navan Fort, Co. Armagh, in archaeological
terms Tara was the focal point of an extended ceremonial landscape. On a
regional level, Tara was in the medieval kingdom of Brega, a region that
extended from the River Dee to the River Liffey and eastwards to the
coast. It was the foremost kingdom in medieval Ireland, and indeed, it
seems imperative to state with the proposed corridor of the M3 extension
from Dunshaughlin to Kells in mind, that its route is going through the
heartland of Brega and encountering the immediate hinterland of all its
significant sites: Dunshaughlin, Lagore, Trevet, Tara, Skreen, Navan,
Teltown, Phoenixtown, Oristown, Emlagh and Kells. At a more local level
Tara was the centre of a ferann ríg (royal demesne), approximating in
modern terms to the Barony of Skreen. If one examines the concept of the
ferann ríg of the kings of Tara in the medieval sources, it is clear
that the hills of Tara and Skreen are part of one landscape. The demesne
was fiercely defended in the tenth and eleventh centuries by a dynasty
known as Clann Cholmáin (the descendants of Colmán) or alternatively
the Uí Máel Sechnaill (O'Melaghlins) from incursion by Norse kings of
Dublin and their local allies. Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill (died 1022)
(or Malachy II, Brian Ború's rival, as he is popularly identified) was
so attached to Tara that he caused his court poet to use it consistently
as a theme is his poetry. A lament written on his death likens Tara to a
widow keening her lost husband. Máel Sechnaill fought the battle of Tara
in 980 against Amlaíb Cúarán, Norse king of Dublin, for dominance of
Brega and especially of his ferann ríg around Tara. Amlaíb had
encroached on Máel Sechnaill's territory and seems to have deliberately
endowed a church dedicated to St Columba at Skreen as a defiant act in
the heart of royal lands. The dedication to Columba was also provocative
for two reasons: Clann Cholmáin were linked to that saints monastery at
Kells and more significantly in the context of Tara, it was in direct
opposition (metaphorically and physically)to the dedication of a
church to St Patrick at Tara. This perceived conflict between the two
hills is expressed in a poem on Skreen composed for Amlaíb by Cináed úa
hArtacáin, a poet from among his local allies. The poem opens with the
line Achall ar aicce Temair Achall (an alternative name for Skreen)
over opposite Temair. This is the best expression, through medieval
eyes, of the relationship between the two hills: they were part of the
same royal landscape. Although not as prominent nationally as Tara,
nonetheless Skreen was an important prehistoric and medieval site. The
medieval poem lists prehistoric burials (likely to be Bronze Age
barrows) dotted on the hill. It became the caput of the manor and town
of the Anglo-Norman de Feipo family from the twelfth century onwards,
the evidence for which lies in and around Skryne Castle and which was so
carefully documented by the late Elizabeth Hickey in her book, Skryne
and the early Normans (published in 1994).


3. Minimalising the impact of the proposed motorway

The existence of an integrated cultural landscape extending beyond the
crown of the Hill of Tara is acknowledged in all of the archaeological
assessments preparatory to, and including, the EIS. In fact, some of the
strongest statements about the true measure of impact of the proposed
road on this landscape are to be found in these documents. However,
since the publication of the EIS there has been a progressive dilution
of these archaeological concerns. Concerns about the numbers of
archaeological sites threatened by this development, and indeed the
existence of the cultural landscape itself, have been systematically
talked-down and dissipated. The same dilution of expert advice and
forewarning is highlighted in the Kampsax Report into the EIS prepared
for Carrickmines Castle. This report, which was commissioned by the EU
Commission, finds that legitimate concerns raised in preliminary
archaeological communications to the NRA and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
County Council were so diluted by the time the EIS was published that
they were effectively ignored by all parties. The Kampsax Report arrived
at this conclusion by tracing the paper trail and the same can be done
in this instance. According to the first archaeological report submitted
to Halcrow Barry from Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.:

The monuments around Tara cannot be viewed in isolation, or as
individual sites, but must be seen in the context of an intact
archaeological landscape, which should not under any circumstances be
disturbed, in terms of visual or direct impact on the monuments
themselves (N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Route Selection, August 2000,
paragraph 7.3)

The same document has this to say of the proposed route:

[the route] continues up the stream valley between Tara and Skreen. In
addition to being highly visible from the Hill of Tara, the route passes
through the archaeologically sensitive landscape of the stream valley
(ibid., 6.5.1.). No mitigation would remove the effects of this route on
the Hill of Tara or on its outlying monuments. It would have extremely
severe implications from an archaeological perspective (ibid., 6.5.3.).

In the EIS we read that "this section of the N3 runs through one of the
richest and best known archaeological landscapes in Europe" (EIS Vol.4A
p.165). However, this sentence is in turn quoted directly from
Margaret Gowen and Co.'s (hereafter MG Ltd.) report on the archaeology
of the proposed route submitted to Halcrow Barry where the rest of the
paragraph reads: "It would be virtually impossible to underestimate the
importance or the sensitivity of the archaeological and historical
landscape in this area" (Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd., N3 Navan to
Dunshaughlin Route Selection: Archaeology, August 2000, 3.1). Indeed,
substantive archaeological concerns were being raised from as early as
1999 in V.J. Keeley Ltd.'s Archaeological Assessment Paper Survey,
Preliminary Area of Interest N3 Dunshaughlin North to Navan West, Co.
Meath where it is reported that: Within the core area of less than 2.8 x
1.2km, [of the Hill of Tara] there are in excess of seventy-five known
archaeological sites. This represents one of the highest, if not the
highest, concentrations of sites per square area in the country. (para.
2.2.1). However, in the Brief of Evidence Archaeology Report published
in August 2002, also prepared by MG Ltd., it is stated that: Most of the
sites approached by the route appear to be later in date than the great
prehistoric complex on Tara. No sites related to the Tara complex will
suffer any physical impact and the route lies approximately 1.5km from
the eastern limit of the protected zone around Tara (para. 4.1). This
latter is a significant departure from this company's original, and
correct, assessment. It is also quite erroneous.
It is clear that although the potential impact of the M3 on the
archaeological landscape of Tara was flagged from the outset as a major
concern, this has not been adequately explored and debated in the EIS.
Moreover, since the publication of the EIS efforts have been made to
talk-down the reality of this landscape and to dissociate the monuments
earmarked for destruction from the cultural landscape of Tara.



4. Calculating the numbers of threatened archaeological sites
between Dunshaughlin and Cannistown

The identification and recording of archaeological sites along the
c.14.5km of the proposed motorway corridor between Dunshaughlin and
Kilcarn (EIS, volume 4A). involved a paper-search, field-walking and
geophysical survey, which was applied along the proposed road-take.
This geophysical survey is of particular importance because it provides
a means of independently reckoning the archaeological potential of the
proposed route. The survey used a fluxgate gradiometer employed in scan
mode. The shortcomings of this technique, which bear on how the results
should be interpreted, are outlined below. Images from the original
geophysical report, which was carried out by GSB Prospection, Bradford,
are not included in the EIS and instead only a synopsis of their
report is provided (EIS vol. 4A, 167). This omission prevents
independent assessment of this aspect of the report.
Despite all of this analysis, there is particular confusion about (1)
the actual number of sites and monuments directly threatened by the
proposed motorway and (2) estimations of the potential number of
endangered sites and monuments The EIS is particularly deficient in
respect of this latter and this is in part due to the peculiar
definition of archaeological sites and monuments employed in the EIS and
to problems germane to geophysical prospection.
The EIS lists 2 recorded archaeological monuments (i.e. sites listed in
the Record of Monuments and Places for Co. Meath, vis an enclosure
ME038:001 and field system ME038:002) on this section of the road
corridor, and a further 18 that occur within 500 meters of it. According
to the EIS, a further 7 monuments and 19 areas of (sic) "potential
archaeological interest" were identified during geophysical survey of
the road take. The 19 areas of archaeological interest are areas that
contain geophysical anomalies described as "circular features", "linear
patterns", "pits", "possible pits", "ferrous [objects)" etc., consistent
with sub-surface archaeological remains (monuments, sites, features or
artefacts). We will argue below that all 19 areas should be classified
as either sites or monuments. In addition to these, 4 other areas were
subjected to detailed geophysical survey but were deemed to be of no
archaeological interest. However, in all of them numerous dipolar
anomalies were recorded and these are interpreted as ferrous material
(i.e. iron objects of indeterminate date and context).
On account of the geophysics, measures were subsequently taken to avoid
3 of the new sites and therefore, the total number of known
archaeological monuments and sites that occur on the line of this 14.5km
section of the motorway is 26.
The probable reason why only 7 of the sites revealed through geophysics
merit the description "monument" in the EIS is because they have
enclosing elements, e.g. walls or ditches and appear to be
spatially-defined. Notwithstanding the probability that some of the
remaining 21 sites are also enclosed, the presence or absence of
enclosing features is not, of itself, a measure of cultural significance
or of stratigraphical complexity. This complacent disregard for
ostensibly unenclosed sites is unscientific and contributes to the
underestimation of the numbers and quality of archaeological sites at risk.
Furthermore, insofar as each of these 7 sites comprises of a number of
archaeological monuments in association with other features of
archaeological significance, they might more accurately be described as
archaeological complexes (they are referred to as such in the EIS, Vol.
4A, Section E, subsection 13.3.3.3, p. 175). And since each covers an
area of between one and two hectares (though in many instances the true
extent of these archaeological complexes remains unknown as many
features continue beyond the limits of the detailed geophysical survey)
reporting that they are "of major archaeological interest" (EIS, Vol.
4A, Section E, sub-section 13.2.3. p. 167) is of little practical value:
the fact is they are very big and probably very complex and will be very
expensive to "resolve". Moreover, there is no guarantee that they are
any less big or less complicated than the remaining 21 sites.
Twenty-eight new sites (including the three geophysical sites
subsequently avoided in the road design) may appear to be a remarkably
high concentration of archaeological monuments in one place, but it is
also the minimum number of potential sites that will be encountered
along this stretch of the motorway. There is absolutely no doubt that
further sites will be discovered during the stripping of topsoil and,
likewise, there is no guarantee that some these will not prove to be big
and complex.
The concentration of archaeological sites in this area is entirely
predictable given the status and particularly sensitive nature of the
archaeological landscape through which the road passes. Including
monuments, sites and "potential archaeological sites" directly in the
path of the motorway, there are no fewer than 48 archaeological zones
within 500m of the road corridor along this 14.5km stretch (EIS Vol. 4C,
Appendix E, 8-12) (i.e. 1 site about every 300m). It is not possible for
the motorway to be re-routed to avoid all of these sites. It is bizarre,
to say the least, that knowing this the authorities selected this route
and persist in defending it. Our question is, have the financial costs
and time delays implicit in investigating all of these sites-- and
publishing them-- been fully realised?

Shortcomings of the geophysical survey
The geophysical survey in this case involved an initial scanning of
the proposed route with a fluxgate gradiometer in an attempt to
identified areas of potential archaeological significance. The scanning
involved walking in parallel lines (8 in total per field), spaced 10m
apart, along the proposed road corridor whilst observing "fluctuations
in the magnetic signal [&] in the instruments' display panel" (EIS Vol.
4A, 167). Scanning of this sort is a subjective procedure. No data is
collected for later analysis and its success is dependant on the
competence, experience and on-the-spot judgement of the field operator.
It is therefore not subject to independent quality control or
independent assessment. It is stated in the EIS that "Variations in
magnetic response that were thought to be of archaeological potential
were identified at thirty sites along the route of the proposed road"
(EIS Vol. 4A, 167). Despite the shortcomings of the scanning
methodology, this is a remarkably high number of sites However, due to
the problems attendant on scanning it is inevitable that other
significant areas of potential archaeological were missed, including
sites less than 10m in maximum dimension. Furthermore, many
archaeological features are invisible, or transparent, to magnetometry
but may possibly be detected using other techniques, such as electrical
resistance.
Despite its obvious limitations, this geophysical survey proved to be
particularly successful. This in its own right testifies to the fact
that this area boasts a particularly dense concentration of
archaeological sites. Again, there is nothing surprising, or indeed
novel, about this observation. In reporting her analysis of the various
route options for Halcrow Barry, Dr Annaba Kilfeather of Margaret Gowen
Ltd. declared that this route "..does pass through an area of enormously
high archaeological potential.." (N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Route
Selection, August 2000, paragraph 6.1.1). Testifying at the An Bord
Pleanála oral hearing Conor Newman warned of the gross underestimation
of the archaeology likely to be encountered and of the likely cost of
its "resolution". This expert advice was effectively ignored.
By not describing the shortcomings of geophysical scanning the EIS fails
to alert the reader to the fact that while the number of new sites is a
minimum, it is also anomalously high. And, moreover, since the data is
not then employed to develop a predictive model of potential sites, the
EIS fails to provide any statistical reckoning of the likely density of
archaeological sites along this road corridor. It is patently obvious
that given the present density of recorded sites along this portion of
the road corridor, substantially more sites will be uncovered during
soil-stripping. Knowing this, a complete detailed geophysical survey or,
at the very least, control surveys should have been established at
regular intervals along the route. This was not done. Neither will the
proposed test-trenching address this issue, because it will only target
known sites. The question needs to be asked what happens if the
test-trenches hits major archaeology?


5. Impact of the motorway on this landscape

It is clear from the foregoing that the proposed motorway transgresses
the core landscape of Tara, severing, visually and physically, the key
eastern component of the Skreen ridge from the rest of the
archaeological and historical landscape. The landscape itself,
therefore, will suffer a major impact. A reasonably intact, and hugely
important, cultural landscape will be bisected by a four-lane motorway
and its associated interchanges and ribbon development that will
inevitably follow.
Moreover, in passing through the valley between Tara and Skreen, the
proposed motorway will be impacting on the area of highest site and
monument density in the immediate hinterland of the Hill of Tara.
Notwithstanding the fact that the 26 known sites and monuments in the
road corridor (and an unspecified number of yet undiscovered sites and
monuments) will be scientifically excavated, ultimately they will be
destroyed and we maintain that this degree of attrition is unacceptably
high. All of the sites and monuments in this area are integral to the
cultural landscape of Tara and destroying them in order to replace them
with a motorway is a direct attack on the integrity of this landscape
and its constituent parts. In truth, the landscape of Tara ought to be
declared a World Heritage Site and proudly maintained for future
generations.



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

My apologies for the delay in forwarding this to the group - formatting
problems! Also, the original message from Carmel was very long, consisting of
two sections. I have broken it up for ease of transmission.

Russell

:Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 14:21:09 -0500
From: Carmel McCaffrey
Subject: The planned destruction of Tara

Paddy,
I have been in touch with Joe Fenwick at NUI Galway re the planned
destruction of Tara by the Irish Government for a new roadway. This is
the statement they have issued. I am also sending their petition in a
separate message.
Carmel

SUMMARY AND POSITION PAPER PREPARED BY EDEL BHREATHNACH, JOSEPH FENWICK
AND CONOR NEWMAN ON THE IMPACT OF THE M3 MOTORWAY THROUGH THE TARA/
SKREEN VALLEY

Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated
spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories
behind it.
(Douglas Hyde, George Moore and William Butler Yeats, The Times, 27th
June 1902.)

1. This statement of fact has been prepared by a team that has worked on
the archaeology, history and literature of Tara since 1992 under the
aegis of the Discovery Programme, a state-funded body. Their primary
reason for presenting this material is to present the facts regarding
Tara and its unique landscape based on accurate archaeological,
historical and scientific information.

2. The ceremonial complex of Tara dates back to about 4000BC. It was
used in prehistory as a burial ground, a sanctuary and as the site where
the highest level of king in society was publicly proclaimed. The king
of Tara was the most important sacred king in prehistoric Ireland and
was probably regarded by society as the king of the world. This status
explains the extraordinary diversity and density of monuments comprising
the cultural landscape of Tara.

3. A common misunderstanding exists that Tara simply consists of the
ridge known as the Hill of Tara. Recent research, following the most
modern theories of archaeological landscape and surveying techniques,
shows that the central ceremonial complex on the hill was surrounded by
settlements, religious monuments, ceremonial entrances and route-ways
and strategically-placed fortifications. Extended ritual and settlement
complexes, or landscapes, are a recognised archaeological phenomenon
known elsewhere in Ireland. Other examples include Navan Fort (Emain
Macha), Co. Armagh and Rathcroghan (Ráith Crúachain), Co. Roscommon. In
the medieval period (7th to 12th century), the prehistoric landscape of
Tara translated into a royal demesne defended by the local kings. It was
approximately the same extent as the modern Barony of Skreen.

4. The geophysical survey undertaken as part of the Environmental Impact
Assessment for the M3 confirmed the unique nature of this landscape.
According to the NRA the entire 60km of toll-road will directly impact
(i.e. destroy) just 5 sites. This is very misleading. The geophysical
survey between Dunshaughlin and Cannistown (c. 14.5km) identified at
least 26 archaeological sites, including 7 described as being of major
archaeological interest. If this number of sites has been found using a
basic reconnaissance survey technique then the actual number can be
expected to be far greater. Have the financial costs and time
requirements implicit in investigating this number of sites been fully
realised?

5. At the outset EIS did acknowledge the true impact on the
archaeological landscape. However, there has been a progressive dilution
of these concerns since An Bord Pleanala's decision in favour of the
motorway. The issues have been played down in a manner similar to the
dilution of expert advice relating to Carrickmines Castle, a factor
criticised in the EU Commission's Kampsax Report on the M50 motorway. It
should also be noted that recent suggestions claiming that these
objections were not raised during An Bord Pleanalas process are
incorrect. Mr. Conor Newman gave detailed evidence on the subject during
that process.

6. The NRA argues that the archaeology encountered during the
construction will be resolved and adequately dealt with following
the highest standards of archaeological procedures (test-trenching, full
excavation, etc). It does not follow that such interventions, however
well executed, accord with the best principles of archaeology or
heritage management.

>This is a unique landscape ought to be subject to the highest level of
protection. Any surveying or excavation undertaken should happen only as
part of a well thought-out research plan: such a research plan would
identify the monuments or areas likely to answer specific research
questions that would add to our already considerable knowledge of the
Tara landscape. Clearing archaeological sites from the path of a
motorway does not constitute a research plan.

>To resolve archaeology ultimately means the destruction of evidence
and its reduction to a paper report. In the context of the construction
of a motorway there is clear danger that cost and delay override
archaeological considerations. What happens if the test-trenching
confirms that the archaeology is complex and unique? Will the usual
procedures of archaeology and motorway construction apply?

>Visible monuments such as Rath Lugh, which form clear confirmation of
the ceremonial complex of Tara will be left stranded on the side of a
motorway.

7. The construction of the M3 through the Tara ceremonial complex is a
local, national and international issue: if a landscape is particularly
significant, should it be subject to any large-scale development or
should it be declared a World Heritage Site and maintained for future
generations?

The document that follows

THIS WILL BE PART 2 - Russell

presents a more detailed account of our
concerns. It outlines how the landscape of Tara has been re-identified
through archaeological and historical analysis and explains how this
landscape will be impacted by the proposed development. It also
enumerates the numbers of known sites and monuments that are directly
threatened by this development and demonstrates how the NRA has sought
to play-down the impact of this motorway on this unique landscape.



Dr Edel Breathnach was Tara Research Fellow of the Discovery Programmes
Tara Literary and Historical Project from 1992-2001. She is presently a
post-doctoral research fellow at the Micheál Ó Cléirigh Institute,
University College Dublin.
Mr Conor Newman was director of the Discovery Programmes Archaeological
Survey of Tara from 1992-96. He is a lecturer in Archaeology at the
National University of Ireland, Galway.
Mr Joseph Fenwick was chief field archaeologist of the Discovery
Programmes Archaeological Survey of Tara 1992-95. He is currently
Archaeological Field Officer at the Dept. of Archaeology, National
University of Ireland, Galway.


------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From: Carmel McCaffrey
Reply-To: Carmel McCaffrey
Subject: Tara Petition

THE IMPACT OF THE M3 TOLL-MOTORWAY THROUGH THE
TARA/ SKREEN VALLEY

1. This statement of fact has been prepared by a team that has worked on
the archaeology, history and literature of Tara since 1992 under the
aegis of the Discovery Programme, a state-funded body. Their primary
reason for presenting this material is to present the facts regarding
Tara and its unique landscape based on accurate archaeological,
historical and scientific information.

2. The ceremonial complex of Tara dates back to about 4000BC. It was
used in prehistory as a burial ground, a sanctuary and as the site where
the highest level of king in society was publicly proclaimed. The king
of Tara was the most important sacred king in prehistoric Ireland and
was probably regarded by society as ?the king of the world?. This status
explains the extraordinary diversity and density of monuments comprising
the cultural landscape of Tara.

3. A common misunderstanding exists that Tara simply consists of the
ridge known as the Hill of Tara. Recent research, following the most
modern theories of archaeological landscape and surveying techniques,
shows that the central ceremonial complex on the hill was surrounded by
settlements, religious monuments, ceremonial entrances and route-ways
and strategically-placed fortifications. Extended ritual and settlement
complexes, or landscapes, are a recognised archaeological phenomenon
known elsewhere in Ireland. Other examples include Navan Fort (Emain
Macha), Co. Armagh and Rathcroghan (Ráith Crúachain), Co. Roscommon. In
the medieval period (7th to 12th century), the preh istoric landscape of
Tara translated into a royal demesne defended by the local kings. It was
approximately the same extent as the modern Barony of Skreen.

4. The geophysical survey undertaken as part of the Environmental Impact
Assessment for the M3 confirmed the unique nature of this landscape.
According to the NRA the entire 60km of toll-road will directly impact
(i.e. destroy) just 5 sites. This is very misleading. The geophysical
survey between Dunshaughlin and Cannistown (c. 14.5km) identified at
least 26 archaeological sites, including 7 described as being of ?major
archaeological interest?. If this number of sites has been found using a
basic reconnaissance survey technique then the actual number can be
expected to be far greater. Have the financial costs and time
requirements implicit in investigating this number of sites been fully
realised?
5. At the outset EIS did acknowledge the true impact on the
archaeological landscape. However, there has been a progressive dilution
of these concerns since An Bord Pleanala?s decision in favour of the
motorway. The issues have been played down in a manner similar to the
dilution of expert advice relating to Carrickmines Castle, a factor
criticised in the EU Commission?s Kampsax Report on the M50 motorway. It
should also be noted that recent suggestions claiming that these
objections were not raised during An Bo rd Pleanala?s process are
incorrect. Mr. Conor Newman gave detailed evidence on the subject during
that process.

6. The NRA argues that the archaeology encountered during the
construction will be ?resolved? and ?adequately dealt with? following
the highest standards of archaeological procedures (test-trenching, full
excavation, etc). It does not follow that such interventions, however
well executed, accord with the best principles of archaeology or
heritage management.

>This is a unique landscape ought to be subject to the highest level of
protection. Any surveying or excavation undertaken should happen only as
part of a well thought-out research plan: such a research plan would
identify the monuments or areas likely to answer specific research
questions that would add to our already considerable knowledge of the
Tara landscape. Clearing archaeological sites from the path of a
motorway does not constitute a research plan.

>To ?resolve? archaeology ultimately means the destruction of evidence
and its reduction to a paper report. In the context of the construction
of a motorway there is clear danger that cost and delay override
archaeological considerations. What happens if the test-trenching
confirms that the archaeology is complex and unique? Will the usual
procedures of archaeology and motorway construction apply?

>Visible monuments such as Rath Lugh, which form clear confirmation of
the ceremonial complex of Tara, will be left stranded on the side of a
motorway.

7. The construction of the M3 through the Tara ceremonial complex is a
local, national and international issue: if a landscape is particularly
significant, should it be subject to any large-scale development or
should it be declared a World Heritage Site and maintained for future
generations?

We, the undersigned, agree with the above analysis and demand that the
proposed motorway be diverted to avoid altogether the core Tara Landscape:

Name Address








------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded on behalf of

Sarah Lappin
lappins[at]tcd.ie

Call for papers Conference of Irish Geographers 2004.

Geography and Government in Ireland; An Historical Perspective.

In contrast to the attention paid to, for example, property, ethnicity or
confessional difference, Irish historical geography has not examined the
role of government in the process of geographical change to the same extent.
Although the significance of this topic had been clearly identified by J.H.
Andrews in his 1970 paper "Geography and Government in Elizabethan Ireland"
it has received little attention since. Papers are welcomed which address
the role of Government in Ireland's changing geographies at national,
regional, local and urban scales.

The Conference of Irish Geographers 2004 will take place from 7-9 May and is
hosted by the Department of Geography Maynooth/NIRSA.
Website: http://www.may.ie/nirsa/cig/

Anyone interested in presenting a paper at this session please contact Sarah
Lappin at lappins[at]tcd.ie. as soon as possible.

Many thanks.

From: "Brian McGinn"
To: "Irish Diaspora Studies"
Subject: Corned Beef in America

A bit late for the holiday, but not for the record......
http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-fdcover3701049mar10,0,6231740,print.story

Corned beef from Ireland was also an important export to the tobacco and sugar
islands of the West Indies during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most was of
course consumed by the planters. I've also seen contemporary evidence that
indentured (white) servants, on islands like Montserrat, were offered corned
beef, though this was usually the less desirable or spoiled cuts, rejected by
their masters.

Brian McGinn
Alexandria, Virginia
bmcginn2[at]earthlink.net


------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 17:40:45 -0400
From: Carmel McCaffrey

I thought the petition contained all necessary information. JOe Fenwick
has asked that those you sign the petition send it via e-mail to Julitta
Clancy at:

julitta1[at]hotmail.com

I hope that many of you will sign this and send it on to her. This is a
very important effort to save Tara. Neither the Meath County Council nor
the Irish government are listening to the Irish archaeologists on this
issue.

Thanks,
Carmel



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

For information...

Journal of Historical Geography
Article in Press, Corrected Proof - Note to users

Copyright C 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Capitalists and co-operators: agricultural transformation, contested space,
and identity politics in South Tipperary, Ireland, 1890-1914

William Jenkins

Department of Geography, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ont.,
Canada M3J 1P3

Available online 12 March 2004.

Abstract
Technological change in the dairy industries of western Europe in the 1880s
and 1890s significantly affected the human geography of dairying regions, as
new butter factories or `creameries' shifted the location of butter
production off the farm. By way of an Irish regional case study, the paper
examines the activities of two distinct groups involved in the establishment
of creameries: private capitalists and agricultural reformers. The former
group was represented mainly by former butter trade personnel and
England-based butter retailers, the latter by organisers and supporters of
the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society who promoted dairy
co-operatives. Other groups in Irish rural society, such as farmers, traders
and the Catholic clergy, also affected the spatial outcome. Capitalists and
co-operators used rural space in different ways, with dairy co-operatives
becoming place-confined and susceptible to particularistic concerns, a
contrast to the `free hand' commerce of their rivals. Although operating
within the economic realm of the dairying industry, the spaces occupied by
these creameries and their competitive activities became bound into cultural
and political discourses and representations of identity in late 19th and
early 20th-century Ireland. Location and price wars between private and
co-operative creameries presented a lens through which wider colonial
relationships of economy and cultural identity were viewed and played out,
and how understandings of `Irish', and `foreign' became naturalised locally.
In these respects, the analysis offers an attempt to link the broad economic
context of agrarian change with its political and cultural spheres.



Note to users: The section "Articles in Press" contains peer reviewed and
accepted articles to be published in this journal. When the final article is
assigned to an issue of the journal, the "Article in Press" version will be
removed from this section and will appear in the associated journal issue.
Please be aware that "Articles in Press" do not have all bibliographic
details available yet.

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Just to remind people... Matthew O'Brien's article is freely available on
the web, as are a number of complete recent Eire-Ireland issues, through
Findarticles...

Transatlantic connections and the sharp edge of the great depression.
Eire-Ireland:Journal of Irish Studies, Spring-Summer, 2002, by Matthew J.
O'Brien

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FKX/2002_Spring-Summer/87915675/p1/articl
e.jhtml

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

I have shared some recent Ir-D items with Hans Vought.

In turn, he has given me permission to share this message, below, with the
Ir-D list.

P.O'S.

________________________________

From: Vought, Hans
VoughtH[at]sunyulster.edu
Sent: 02 April 2004 17:42
Subject: Re: Irish and U.S. Immigration Restriction in the 1920s

I should clarify that I'm not arguing that the National Origins
quotas were
explicitly intended to be anti-Irish and/or anti-German. In fact,
it seems
that most Congressmen voted for the 1924 law without fully
understanding how
the quotas would change. But Irish and German Americans certainly
took it
that way, and their complaints about the quotas were met with some
lingering
animosity from the war, as well as the Klan's anti-Catholic
sentiments.

It's true that Germany and Ireland received large quotas even under
National
Origins, but nevertheless the quota reductions for both nations were
quite
substantial. The Irish quota went from 28,567 to 13,682 and the
German
quota went from 51,227 to 23,428. Meanwhile Great Britain's quota
soared
from 34,007 to 73,039. In the context of the times, it certainly
appeared
to Irish and German Americans that the British were being rewarded
and they
were being punished.

It's also certainly true that the "likely to become a public charge"
clause
was used to restrict almost all immigration beginning in 1930. The
LPC
provision was introduced in the 1891 Immigration Act, however - the
1917 Act
merely continued the provision. The Supreme Court ruled in 1915
(Gegiow v.
Uhl) that the Immigration Bureau could not use the LPC provision to
deny
entry. That's why the Hoover Administration authorized its use to
deny
issuing visas, a practice continued by FDR.


Hans P. Vought, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
SUNY-Ulster Co. Community College
Vanderlyn 239C
Stone Ridge, NY 12484

(845) 687-5201

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

There was a letter from Ultan Cowley in Irish Times of Friday April 2nd,
about the proposed plans for the pier area of Dun Laoghaire.

Ir-D members will be aware of plans, at varying levels of credibility,
throughout the world to create museums of Irish emigration or of the Irish
Diaspora. Sometimes the idea is simply floated, as part of some plan for
almost any monumental building, anywhere - reminding me of that move in
square dancing when the dancer sashays up to a possible partner, then backs
away quickly... So many different plans can create a sort of planning
blight - with no one plan able to move forward by itself. But a number of
us have been exchanging notes - and maybe the first step in a new dance is
simply to start making problems more visible.

In that context, Ultan Cowley has given me permission to distribute here his
Irish Times letter...

I have not been able to get hold of the text of the letter as published -
but here, below, with Ultan's permission, is the text of his First Draft.

P.O'S.



Ultan Cowley's First Draft...

Letter to Irish Times...

END OF THE CARLISLE PIER

On Monday March 30th the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company Board announced the
winning design for the redevelopment of Dun Laoghaire's Carlisle Pier which,
from 1855 to 1995, was the Irish departure point for the Dun Laoghaire to
Holyhead Mail Boat.

This event ' the demolition of the old Pier and its replacement with a major
new landmark structure incorporating living and recreational space, retail
outlets, a hotel, and a cultural centre, will have significance not only for
the citizens of Dun Laoghaire and Dublin but also for the Irish in Britain,
many of whom first left their homeland from this very spot.

Four designs, short listed from an initial fourteen proposals submitted and
evaluated between July and December 2003, were selected by the Harbour
Company. In early February these designs were put on view at the present
Ferry Terminal Building and the public was invited to comment on them.

The official objective was to utilise the redevelopment of the Pier 'to
create a sustainable and viable attraction for visitors and the people of
Dun Laoghaire which would reflect its historic significance and 'enhance the
physical, cultural, economic and social life of Dun Laoghaire'.

Included in the design stipulations was the provision of 'a major public
cultural attraction of national importance'. The winning design, by
architects henneghan.peng, proposes a 'National Marine Life Centre'
something of debatable value which could be equally well sited in an urban
setting almost anywhere on Ireland's coastline. It has no special resonance
with this particular site and certainly doesn't 'reflect its historical
significance' in any way whatever.

Only one proposal, that of New York Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind
(himself an emigrant from Europe to New York), for an Irish Diaspora Museum
recognised the Carlisle Pier's historic association with the protracted
trauma of Irish emigration.

Over one hundred and forty years thousands of Irish emigrants, mostly young
single men and women but also families, walked onto that pier to take the
Mail Boat to England. Most believed they would return in a year or two; many
never did.

Liebeskind picked up on the resonance of the term 'mail boat' and saw it as
symbolising the outreach of the Irish to those abroad: 'this pier filled
boats, not only with people but literally with sentiments, ideas, news and
wishes'the architecture must capture and echo the sentiment and emotion of
all the letters that passed through its pier'.

He missed its more vital significance however; it was the conduit for the
millions of pounds of emigrants' remittances which those men and women, by
hard labour and sacrifice, faithfully posted home in order to maintain
others and to give them a future in their own country.

According to Catherine Dunne (An Unconsidered People, Dublin, 2003)
emigrants' remittances in 1960 ' 15.5 million pounds, was only half a
million short of the entire Irish education budget for that year, and 2.5
billion pounds was remitted via cheques and postal orders from Britain to
Ireland between 1939 and 1969.

Instead, it seems, their reward will be to have their memories airbrushed
out at the very point of departure. One is reminded of Paul Ricoeur's
observation; 'To be forgotten, and written out of history, is to die
again...'

The Harbour Company invited public submissions 'to help inform its decision
on which proposal to select' and a full 47% of submissions received favoured
Libeskind's design. Not only was this design rejected but since then no one
' neither the winning architects nor the Harbour Board, has proposed
erecting so much as a simple monument in their names on this historic spot.

I am reminded of the closing passages of Donal MacAuligh's famous memoir,
Dialann Deorai (An Irish Navvy: Diary of an Exile), in the context of one of
his many departures from the Carlisle Pier on the Mail Boat for England.
'I envy the cattle lying on the green grass of Ireland gazing cow-like at
the CIE carriages riding by. But even the cattle are trundled across too;
like the Paddies and Brigids of Ireland.
Coming into Dun Laoghaire I saw a young man and his girl walking down below
us in the golden evening sunlight. Its well for you, my friend, that every
day you arise can be spent around this place. The quay is lined with little
sailing boats'The wealthy own them, those who can stay behind here.
For a minute I have a vision of Lough Corrib and I can sense that old
feeling in my stomach that I get each time I leave Irish soil, but it won't
last long. I'm getting used to it now'Somewhere around me a man is singing
'The Rose of Tralee'We're a great people, surely'.

Given this latest turning of our collective backs on our emigrants I can
only add: Aren't we, just'

Ultan Cowley

Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:10:19 -0500
From: "Thomas J. Archdeacon"
Subject: RE: Ir-D From Hans Vought, Irish and Immigration Restriction

Hans Vought is generally correct in his reading of the acts of the 1920s,
but I believe he has overstated in impact of Giegow v. Uhl. In that case,
the Supreme Court ruled that the immigration authorities could not ban two
immigrants from Russia because the labor market in the intended
destination, Portland, Oregon, was overcrowded. It, however, did not forbid
the application of the LPC to the whole nation. The issue arose again in
the case of Henderson et al. v. Reno et al. (US Court of Appeals, 2d
Circuit, 1998), which raised habeas corpus issues in connection with efforts
of the government to expedite the deportation of certain convicted felons
who were legal permanent residents. In its review of past cases, the court
commented, re Giegow v. Uhl,



"As a result, the Court went on to consider the petitioner's claim that,
under the immigration statute, he should not have been deemed an individual
likely to become a public charge solely on the ground that the labor market
in the city of his immediate destination was overstocked. The Court agreed
with the alien and, rejecting the executive branch's interpretation of the
statute, held that the statute allowed only consideration of the labor
market in the country as a whole, and not in any particular city."



Tom Archdeacon



------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://webmail.brad.ac.uk
To report misuse from this email address forward the message
and full headers to misuse[at]bradford.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------