Controversial road plans still in place

PLANS to run the last section of the M50 motorway through Carrickmines Castle remain in place despite an interim decision to extend and open the incomplete route without building on the archeologically important site.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has amended its original contract with road-builders, Ascon, so they can omit Carrickmines from the plans and continue working on the two ends of the motorway which were supposed to join up there.

The northern end will continue to a major new interchange at Sandyford where traffic will be routed on to the Leopardstown Road and a new link road while traffic will be taken from the southern end into the existing road network via an interchange at Laughanstown. The work is to be completed by the end of August 2005.