Waterford City and County Council's draft consultation plan to develop and manage the Viking Woodstown site at Carriganore has been welcomed by People Before Profit (PBP).

It was discovered in 2003 during preliminary works along the planned route of the city bypass, 4km upstream from Waterford City centre, and beside the Waterford Greenway.

At the time, Úna Dunphy of PBP, said there was an immediate recognition that it was a significant discovery of huge importance in terms of Ireland's Viking archaeology.

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Experts from Ireland, Scandinavia and across the globe acknowledged that this was the most important Viking site discovered in Europe in the last 100 years, and referred to it as Ireland's Pompeii.

The 'Save Viking Woodstown Campaign', including members of PBP, local activists, and trade unionists immediately organised a series of lpublic meetings with well-known experts on Viking history from Universities around the country, as well as experts from historic Viking York, in the UK.

Local educational field trips to the Carriganore site were also organised, and a fact finding visit to the famous Viking museum and research centre at Roskilde, in Denmark, was undertaken by the committee.