There Are Reasonable Alternatives

"TARA" he said, "There are reasonable Alternatives." The speaker was Dr. Herbert Rauch at a conference on the theme of energy conservation that I attended as part of the Austrian EU Presidency.

I felt bad about the air miles, but I was at least able to point out to the attendees that the Austrian Parliament might consider changing to low-energy light bulbs in their Conference Rooms. I did buy some Carbon from Tony Lowes to salve my conscience for the travel to and from Vienna, though I'm not so sure that that's the best idea either.

Anyway, here's one of those alternatives. I'm standing on the rail bed of the former Navan rail line close to the heart of the town, just before the march to Save Tara last Saturday. If the Navan rail line was reinstated for a commuter rail service, it would take some of the pressure off building a Motorway through the heart of the Tara Skreen Valley.

At the moment it seems like Fianna Fáil is high on promises but a bit slow on the delivery end of putting back the rail link.

I told the protesters that Tara had been a "holy place and a sacred space" for thousands of years. "Before Christ was born, Tara was sacred. In the 19th century, Tara was sacred, and in the 21st century we have to keep Tara as a sacred place. I would be an act of sacrilege to drive a motorway through the Tara Skreen valley. It would be the most disrespectful act to our history, to our heritage and to future generations."

It's the eleventh hour at this stage, but moving the route is on the Green Party's shopping list for a Programme for Government. Well done to Rosaleen Allen and Heather Buchanan for organising the March.