Revellers gathered at the Hill of Tara to greet the morning sun today on the longest day of the year.
TaraWatch - which is campaigning for the M3 motorway to be re-routed away from the historic Tara-Skryne valley - is staging a four-day summer solstice celebration at the site.
The Tara archaeological complex was recently placed on the World Monuments Fund's last of the World's 100 Most Endangered Sites.
TaraWatch are holding a number of protests at various archaeological sites in the area during the course of the week. "This morning's sunrise was an incredibly joyful event, as our campaign is finally getting the attention and support it deserves," Laura Grealish of TaraWatch said today.
In one of his last acts as minister, outgoing environment minister Dick Roche signed an order allowing the M3 motorway to be built over the recently discovered prehistoric henge at Lismullin, Co Meath. His successor, the Green Party's John Gormley, said he would not be overturning the order.
Today is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, and solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar.
An estimated 20,000 druids, pagans and partygoers converged on the prehistoric site in Stonehenge in England early today to cheer the dawn.
Police closed the site in 1984 after repeated clashes with revelers, but English Heritage, the monument's caretaker, began allowing full access to the site again in 2000.
