Statement on Recent M3 Archaeological Reports
The following statement by the National Roads Authority relates to a newspaper article and editorial that appeared recently in a national newspaper. The article is based on a published academic paper by Maggie Ronayne, Department of Archaeology NUI Galway: ‘The State We Are in on the Eve of the Archaeological Congress (WAC) Archaeology in Ireland vs. Corporate Takeover’ in Public Archaeology, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 2008, 114-129.
The article quotes a licence holder Ms. Jo Ronayne, an archaeologist who formerly worked for one of the Archaeological Consultants on the Navan to Kells section of the M3 Motorway who held a number of archaeological licences for test-trenching along the M3 motorway for the purposes of identifying previously unknown archaeological sites and features that may have been present below ground. The licence holder is reported as claiming that "she and a number of other licence-holders were forced to change findings in reports without their permission, by the NRA. These reports where in turn presented to the Minister of the Environment, Dick Roche, who relied upon them to make a decision on whether or not to grant full excavation licenses, on site which I alleged where national monuments."
Response to These Claims:
The National Roads Authority rejects these claims and accusations and reiterates that it has always sought to ensure the observance of the highest professional standards and best practice procedures in the conduct of, and reporting on, archaeological investigations and excavations on national road schemes. The conduct of the Authority and its Archaeologists has been informed by and is entirely consistent with the Code of Practice between the NRA and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (please note that this Code of Practice was originally agreed between the NRA and the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, 2000, however these functions were transferred to the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government).
Under the Code, NRA Archaeologists are required to:
- manage the archaeological process on national roads schemes;
- ensure best practices procedures and standards at all stages in the archaeological process;
- oversee and ensure the quality of the on-site testing and excavation work;
- ensure that all mitigation is carried out satisfactorily;
- oversee and ensure the quality of the off-site post-excavation stages, and
ensure that the nature and quality of excavation reports are of the highest standard.
The role of the NRA Archaeologists in their dealings with the licence concerned was consistent with the exercise of these quality control functions as regards the standard and content of reports. At no time did the Archaeologists attempt to interfere with or play down the status or significance of archaeological sites and features discovered. Their role sought to ensure proper, accurate and more comprehensive representation of such discoveries and that final reports observed relevant quality standards.
Under the Code of Practice, should a dispute arise between the licence-holder (Consultant Archaeologist) and the NRA Archaeologist concerning the conduct of excavations or the preparation of reports thereon, the matter can be referred to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for determination. At no time was this independent mechanism utilised by the licence holder.
The Authority also rejects suggestions that reports submitted to the Minister for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government were inaccurate or in any way deliberately misleading. In practice, the manner and standard to which archaeological investigations and excavations are conducted on national road schemes are determined by the Minister acting under National Monuments legislation. Department Archaeologists regularly visit archaeological sites on national road schemes to monitor progress and observance of the Minister’s specific requirements. These procedures provide a further quality assurance mechanism as to the professionalism and overall acceptability of the Authority’s performance.
The test trenching work on which the licence holder was engaged constitutes an early phase in the archaeological investigations conducted on national road schemes and provides only a preliminary indication of what archaeology may be present. The results of such trenching are rarely conclusive; the primary purpose is to identify areas for follow-up excavation. Reports on such excavations deal more definitively with the nature and significance of archaeological discoveries and are submitted as a matter of course to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Significant archaeological discoveries are brought to the attention of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the National Museum of Ireland so that the appropriate responses can be determined.
The licence holder is also reported as stating that – " 'I didn't realise that the testing and my reports would be used to facilitate rather than stop the project going ahead. Or that they don't let you write the truth in the reports or give you enough time to do a proper job,' she wrote." However, the original method statement for these archaeological works, for which she was licensed, makes clear the purpose and intention of the excavations.
These comments reveal a lack of understanding of the purpose of the archaeological investigations. The work concerned was part of the mitigation measures in respect of archaeology included in the approved Environmental Impact Statement for the M3 scheme; it had no bearing on whether or not construction of the motorway could proceed. The decision in that regard was made by An Bord Pleanála some time previously (August, 2003) in line with statutory road scheme approval procedures.
The Authority cannot accept Ms. Ronayne’s contention that insufficient time was allowed for archaeological work. The archaeological testing of the M3 took place over a full year, which was then followed by two years of full archaeological excavations. The rate of progress in relation to archaeology was a key factor in dictating the road construction tendering timetable and the commencement of road building.
The allocation of the required time to attend to archaeology in line with best practice procedures has entailed significant costs – to date the Authority has spent €30 million in respect of archaeology on the M3 scheme.