The Supreme Court appeal against the removal of a section of medieval walled ditch near Carrickmines Castle has been set for this Friday.
Carrickminders today succeeded in getting an early hearing after the High Court last week refused to grant an injunction restraining Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from removing the section of fosse.
The council has agreed to dismantle the 10-20 metre section of the 200-metre fosse and reassemble it at an unspecified location. They also say they are following proper archaeological procedures when clearing part of the Carrickmines Castle site make way for a new section of the M50 motorway.
But activists say the excavation is illegal under the terms of National Monuments Act. They are claiming the "destruction" of a recorded national monument requires the consent of the Minister for the Environment and both houses of the Oireachtas.