Council and NRA distort EU report

I WOULD like to suggest to the NRA and Meath County Council that the report of the EU Petitions Committee is not as they claim: an EU confirmation “that they have behaved entirely properly throughout this process”. They are twisting the words to suit themselves.

The report points out that “routes to the west of the main Tara site, running closer to the river Skrane, for example, do not seem to have been seriously considered by the authorities”. Also, “The delegation is perplexed by the choice of route and by the damage done to the integrity of the many sites in the Tara area. It is also concerned as to why it has been deemed necessary to build one of the largest M3 intersections at this most vulnerable location in terms of Ireland’s national heritage… This motivates a clear call by this committee for a substantial review of the environmental impact of the M3 and for less intrusive alternative routes to be designated.”

Further, it finds, “It is surprising there is no commuter rail service between this area, Navan, and Dublin, and that none is planned before 2015 at the earliest, a fact which condemns and confirms an inevitable choice of motorway construction.” This is a clear breach of EU guidelines on sustainable transport.