M3 contractors continue with motorway work near Rath Lugh

THE contractors for the M3 motorway were yesterday (Tuesday) erecting fencing along the route of the motorway at Lismullin, close to the Rath Lugh national monument, following a three-day standoff last week which saw a protestor chain herself into a tunnel on motorway route.

Protestors against the motorway had spent a number of months digging a tunnel into the side of a hill on which the Rath Lugh National Monument stands, and when workers began site clearance work last week, Kerry woman Lisa Feeney, a psychology graduate known by her nickname 'Squeak', began a protest in the 10-feet deep tunnel.

Gardai were on the scene on Thursday morning last as the M3 contractors attempted to move the protestors off the route of the motorway. A number of arrests were made.

The Gardai and contractors succeeded in moving the protestors behind security barriers, apart from Ms Feeney and a friend who was in communication with her via walkie-talkie, and four protestors who were chained to a barrel on the site.

Ms Feeney eventually left the tunnel on Saturday night following an appeal from her father and discussions with the National Roads Authority (NRA) which clarified and confirmed a number of points regarding the work on that section of the motorway.

Michael Egan of the NRA this week said that work was continuing as the contractors had planned, and there was no stay of a month on it, as claimed by the campaigners at the weekend.

The authority had confirmed and clarified a number of issues with the protestors, and explained the protection that would be put in place at the esker on which the monument stood, he added.

A protection wall, known as a 'crib wall', would be constructed at the location, Mr Egan explained. The 'land take' for the motorway was not encroaching on the monument or on the protection zone around it, and Mr Egan said that the protection of the monument and the construction of the motorway would not come into conflict.

"This crib wall has been used in a number of projects, including the Glen of the Downs, and is constructed behind an embankment which is then planted to tone in with the existing landscape," Mr Egan said.

Fencing that was ongoing at the moment was necessary to distinguish the boundaries of the construction site for health and safety purposes and he appealed to the public not to enter onto the construction site. Final designs on the crib wall are being worked on.

"The work will not impact on Rath Lugh," he said. The rath was declared a national monument by Minister John Gormley on Friday 7th March last. He had placed a temporary preservation on it last autumn.

The motorway is going closer to the monument than originally thought, as a result of a mapping error on the record of monuments and places map (RMP) compiled by the Department of the Environment. When trees were cleared from the hill or esker a year ago, it was discovered that the monument was closer than thought.

On Thursday last, in the High court, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy dismissed an application for an injunction from building surveyor Peadar O Ceallaigh, Wolfe Tone Close, Jervis Street, Dublin, who claimed Rath Lugh was under threat from the construction work.

The Green Party representative for Meath, Brian Flanagan, last week called on Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey to get the NRA, for which he is responsible, to alter the proposed route of the M3 at Rath Lugh.

"The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, has done everything he is allowed to do as regards preserving Rath Lugh," Mr Flanagan said.

"The permanent Preservation Order which he has signed covers the monument itself and a buffer zone of 20m. This does not include the portion of the esker within the road take. It is not true to say, as others have done, that the demarcation line on the esker is not known. I myself have visited the site and can confirm that there is 33 metres available between the esker and the perimeter fence erected by the NRA. Therefore the route of the route can be moved easily by 20 metres without encroaching on the esker at all."

Mr Flanagan said that Minister Dempsey should be reasonable and ensure that the NRA alters the route away from the esker. "This will ensure that our heritage is preserved and that no further taxpayers' money is wasted on Garda security, fire brigade and other security personnel at this National Monument," he added.