Campaigners against the M3 construction work, near the Hill of Tara, brought their campaign to the European Parliament yesterday.

Members of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society called on the European Commission to carry out an independent inquiry into the construction of the motorway.

They told MEPs that the Irish Government had behaved like the Taliban in destroying Ireland's cultural heritage.

"In the past two and a half years we have witnessed the steady destruction of this uniquely important landscape; a destruction akin to the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's cultural heritage," said Julitta Clancy, former President of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society.

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The society blasted the Commission for not paying more attention to the fact that Ireland has not been enforcing regulations aimed at protecting heritage, as a request for intervention by the Commission had been rejected.

"We first approached the committee in June 2005, at a time when we believed it was still possible to avert a major cultural disaster – the destruction of the 6,000-year-old Tara archaeological and historical landscape by the needless routing of a section of the M3 motorway through its heart," said Society Spokesman Martin Dier.

"We believe that the M3/Tara situation is a glaring example of the inadequate protections given to our archaeological and cultural heritage."

However, Commission Official Liam Cashman said it did not have the power to request protective measures from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for archaeological sites. He also revealed that the Commission had not yet submitted a legal case to the ECJ against the Republic regarding its failure to implement EU law governing environmental impact statements. An application will be made within a few months, he said.

(VB/JM)