Major road-building is inevitable, and, according to a spokesman for Duchas, the Heritage Service, there are currently neither the financial nor archaeological resources available to deal with the amount of archaeological finds being uncovered during the road construction process along the Northern Motorway.
Speaking at a seminar arranged by the Meath and Louth Archaeological Societies at Drogheda on Saturday, Mr Brian Duffy, a senior Duchas archaeologist, conceded "mistakes have been made". But with the implementation of the code of practice in agreement with the National Roads Authority, "this should change".
Saturday's discussions also heard that under EU law all proposed archaeological contract work must now be advertised in Europe. Therefore, increasing numbers of British and other European archaeologists will be competing with Irish archaeologists.
Discoveries along the intended M1 or Northern Motorway route have produced an embarrassment of archaeological riches as well as serious local concerns about the outcome of excavations conducted under competitive deadline pressure and, at times, in tandem with construction work.
Asked why archaeological excavations appeared to be left so late, the Duchas representative pointed out excavation work could not be undertaken until the land was acquired.
Faced with questions about the heritage implications for Co Meath of having such massive road construction projects as four new motorways, the M1, M2, M3 and M4, in addition to the existing N1, N2, N3 and N4 routes, all running through it, Mr Duffy said "these roads will be built. The NRA has the money. The Government has decided. There is nothing I can do about it".
Also addressing the seminar was Ms Daire O'Rourke, formerly Dublin City archaeologist and recently appointed by the NRA as co-ordinating archaeologist. She stressed that far closer monitoring of sites will now be undertaken and that the NRA project archaeologists will have an overview. The private consultant archaeologists will in future liaise with the NRA project archaeologists who in turn will report to Duchas.
Earlier, Prof Gabriel Cooney of UCD said the archaeological potential of the topsoil or plough zone had often been overlooked in the soil-stripping process.
