What do politicians consider? There’s a question. What makes them decide, apart from instinct, in favour of this, to reject that? Is it the national interest? Is it the impact on employment and economic growth? Is there a finger, or a fist, held to the winds of public opinion? How much pressure comes from special interest groups, or big business? Or, and excarnate the flesh to the most basic level, is it merely about pressing the right nerves with sufficient of the electorate to ensure re-election, while keeping damage to the interests of the ‘very helpful’ people to a minimum?

Think about Tara and the M3. Then imagine a great balance, an old-fashioned weighing scales, two pans dangling on expensive golden chains, somewhere inside the basement of Leinster House. How could that balance have been tipped? Could it ever, really, have been tipped?

 

Roestown Souterrain Complex - Filled in and buried under several tonnes of concrete.

The trail of the M3 works, from Rath Lugh back to Lismullin - The huge Iron Age enclosure was recorded and then, incredibly, destroyed.

The impact of the works on the side of Rath Lugh.

The face of the Rath was stripped and left exposed for a long period - The trenches that striate the side were caused by movement of water over this time.

Deep tracks, cut by heavy machinery, in the soft ground near Lismullin.

Further Reading: M3, Co. Meath: The End of the Road