Costly delays on cards after road ruling

FRANTIC efforts were being made last night to stop a haemorrhage of taxpayers’ money after the completion of the country’s biggest road project was stonewalled by the Supreme Court.

A temporary injunction has prevented removal of an ancient walled ditch, or fosse, part of the boundary of medieval Carrickmines Castle in south Co Dublin, which lies in the path of the last section of the M50 motorway.

The order means no further work can be done on the castle site until the High Court hears the case in full at a date in the future despite protests by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that delays are costing €100,000 a week under a penalty clause agreed with the main contractors.

The road, which is supposed to take 80,000 vehicles out of the congested city suburbs, is already over budget and behind schedule.

The original estimated cost of £90 million (€114m) and completion date of June this year are now hopelessly outdated.

It is months behind in meeting its revised completion date of mid-2005 and the cost has more than trebled with mounting legal fees, penalty pay-outs and an as-yet uncalculated compulsory purchase compensation payment to previous landowners Jackson Way Properties yet to be added.

Elected members of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are to meet in emergency session later this week or early next week to discuss the crisis and debate a proposal by Fine Gael Deputy Olivia Mitchell to terminate the multi-million euro construction contract until the High Court makes its final ruling.

“I am seriously concerned that this will be the end of this particular road if the court rules against us and in the meantime we will be paying out vast sums of money for nothing,” said Ms Mitchell.

Environment Minister Martin Cullen, from whom the High Court will demand explanations for the decisions surrounding Carrickmines, and Transport Minister Seamus Brennan are both monitoring the situation closely.

Yesterday’s court action was taken by Dominic Dunne and Gordon Lucas, two members of the Carrickminders group, which formed last summer to protest against the decision to stick with the route through Carrickmines despite the discovery of what has been called the most extensive archaeological finds since Woodquay.

The European Commission is also carrying out an investigation into the affair and is threatening to demand back €74m in funding.

In another inquiry, the Flood Tribunal is examining rezoning decisions relating to the Carrickmines lands and, in a separate arena, the outcome is awaited of an arbitration hearing into a €47m compensation demand by Jackson Way Properties, which is also being investigated by the tribunal.