The Hill of Tara is included in a list of historic Irish sites seeking designation as world heritage sites. The list is being prepared by the Department of the Environment for submission to UNESCO in Brazil.

However, campaigners from Save Newgrange and TaraWatch have accused the Irish Government of failing to protect both Newgrange and Tara. The new M3 motorway passes close to Tara, while other contentious plans will take the N2 Slane bypass within a kilometre of the Newgrange-Brú na Boinne site. Vincent Salafia said “We support the nomination of the Hill of Tara as a world heritage site, but only on condition that measures are taken to mitigate the damage caused by the M3. We are also going to demand that Ireland is forced to amend the National Monuments Act, since the current act does not give adequate protection for any world heritage site in Ireland.”