Meath tops country's heritage sites, but facilities at Tara 'embarrassing'

Meath is Ireland's most heritage-rich county with Newgrange the top heritage site in Ireland and the Hill of Tara ranked at number five, according to a new survey. Newgrange also came tops of favourite Irish landmarks and was voted the country's top historic site, while Tara was third in the favourite historic sites poll. Tara came out on top of the list of places people were embarrassed not to have visited, in the poll conducted by Irish insurance company, Ecclesiastical, to celebrate National Heritage Week. It was the company's second annual national survey to assess the public's views and awareness of Irish heritage. Meath's success in the poll was warmly welcomed in the county, but closure of the visitor centre at Tara for eight months of the year has come under fire from public representatives. Cllr Tommy Reilly said it wasn't much wonder people were embarrassed at not having visited Tara because of the lack of facilities there. "The visitor centre is only open four months of the year. It is high time that the OPW and Meath County Council did something for Tara. The closure of the visitor centre for eight months of the year is a disgrace," he said. "We have visitors coming to Tara from as early as 7.30am until late at night. "There were three busloads here at 8.15 this morning and the visitor centre opened at 9.30am. "On Saturday evening, there were Italian tourists here. There were no parking or toilet facilities for them," he added. Cllr Reilly said that, for most of the year, the only toilet facilities for visitors were in the private business that operates beside the hill and, when it closes, there are no other facilities. "I'm not surprised that Tara did so well in the poll when I see the amount of visitors here all year round, but it is a disgrace that there aren't proper facilities for the visitors," he said. Cllr Wayne Harding said Meath's status as the most heritage-rich county and Newgrange as favourite heritage site was great news for Meath. However, he said he would like to see visitors spend a longer time in the area as very often the visitors are bussed to Newgrange and back from Dublin and he would like to see more benefit for places like Slane, Duleek and Donore. He said a lot of money was now being spent on the Boyne Valley area which should help keep visitors in Meath for longer. Cllr Harding was critical of the fact that high-profile visitors to the country hadn't been brought to Newgrange for some time. In the past, many crowned heads, prime ministers and presidents were taken to to Newgrange if they visited Ireland, but neither Queen Elizabeth nor President Obama were taken to Newgrange and there hadn't been VIP visits there for quite some time. "The visit by the Queen and President Obama would have been a perfect opportunity to showcase the site," he concluded.