The Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, Mr Dempsey, yesterday gave approval to the construction of a dual carriageway around Sligo city centre. While this would appear to be the end of an 18-year dispute about the construction of an inner relief road, opponents of the plan are exploring every option to block it, including judicial proceedings.
Aimed at the relief of traffic congestion in Sligo, the plan was first put forward in 1982 and has been dogged by controversy ever since. There have been a number of consultants' reports, and a sworn inquiry last year.
In the course of the dispute, Sligo Corporation's view of the scheme has changed, with a majority of councillors on the present corporation, unlike their predecessors, opposing it.
The proposed route is four kilometres long, and goes from Carraroe roundabout, where the road from Dublin now ends, to the bridge at the west of the town. Since the bridge opened in 1989, the corporation has been buying land and property along the route.
The road has bitterly divided Sligo. On one side are environmentalists and residents of some of the streets due for demolition. On the other are the residents of the present route into the town, which is severely congested; the officials of the corporation; and Sligo Chamber of Commerce.
The Labour Party and Sinn Fein oppose the plan, while the majority of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors support it.
The scheme is expected to cost £18 million and, it emerged yesterday, will be funded by the National Roads Authority (NRA) out of domestic funds, rather than with the help of the EU. Earlier plans had involved the EU providing 85 per cent of the funds.
The funding issue was an important one for the scheme's opponents yesterday, as they claimed the decision to finance the road from domestic funds was a ruse to avoid EU scrutiny.
"Is it the case that the Government is satisfied that it would not stand up to scrutiny on the European stage?" asked Mr Damien Tansey, solicitor for the Concerned Citizens' Group, which is opposed to the route. "If so, why is it good enough for the people of Sligo?"
He said the group was considering all options to continue its opposition to the scheme, including appealing to the EU. He did not accept that the NRA funding ruled out this option. "EU funding has already been used on this project, for example, to purchase property," he said.
He added that the integrity of the process was suspect, as the Minister had made the decision in the context of the corporation having bought up property along the proposed route.