February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Environment Minister Martin Cullen has ordered a report on the matter amid calls from conservationists for the road works to cease pending a detailed archaeological examination of the site.
David Edwards, of the newly formed Academy for Heritage, said it would be “a much better use of public funds” to reroute the bypass than hold the project up for two to three years to allow for an excavation.
Echoing this view, Mark Clinton, a member of An Taisce’s monuments committee, said the National Roads Authority had only two options, “either they launch a major excavation or they move the road.”
Clinton, a former site director of the Carrickmines Castle archaeological excavations in South Dublin, also criticized the NRA for not being more alert to the possibility of the find.
“We have always known about Viking activity in this area, and a site fitting this description on the banks of the Suir is well documented,” he said. “How then they decided to build the road right through the area is amazing.”
A NRA spokesman denied any suggestion that it had prior knowledge of the site, saying it had fully complied with official guidelines on archaeological protection.
“The department is reviewing the situation, and we will have to see what flows from that. But from the NRA’s point of view we have moved ahead with the tender process. I won’t say we have crossed the Rubicon but we are in the final building stages,” the spokesman said.
While he declined to rule out the possibility of a rerouting, he said “it would be difficult to come up with a viable alternative.”
It is understood an excavation could add at least one year to the construction time and an extra