Tunnel protest fails to stop M3 work

A HIGH Court bid to halt work on the M3 Dublin to Navan motorway because protesters claimed to have dug a tunnel underneath it failed yesterday.

The court application for an injunction to stop the work also claimed that a national monument on the site was in danger of being damaged because of the building work — a claim denied by the National Roads Authority (NRA) which said any delay in the project would cost the taxpayer €330,000 per week.

The monument, at an esker known as Rath Lugh, is located about 2.3 miles north-east of the Hill of Tara and divided from the hill by the existing N3 road.

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy dismissed the application for an injunction from building surveyor Peadar Ó Ceallaigh, of Wolfe Tone Close, Jervis Street, Dublin, who claimed a girl “trapped” in a tunnel underneath the road route was in danger from the impact of heavy diggers passing over it. She had allegedly chained herself to a jack in the tunnel and any effort to remove her would also result in collapse.

He claimed attempts by the road workers, gardaí and fire brigade to remove the girl had failed.

Mr Ó Ceallaigh claimed a preservation order on Rath Lugh, signed last month by Environment Minister John Gormley, was under threat because of the building work.

The NRA, the Minister for the Environment and the Attorney General opposed the injunction.

Declan McGrath, counsel for the NRA, said no work would take place which would impinge either on the area of the preservation order or on a buffer zone area around it.

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy said Mr Ó Ceallaigh had no standing in law to make an application on behalf of a person in a tunnel.

She reserved costs for the hearing of a full action.