A proposed link from Dublin Airport to the new Balbriggan by-pass will seriously affect the Broadmeadow Estuary at Swords, Co Dublin, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr Justice McCracken gave leave to the Broadmeadow Estuary Action Group Ltd to seek an order quashing a scheme for the new motorway. The judicial review proceedings are being taken against Fingal County Council and the Minister for the Environment, who has approved the scheme.
The action group complains that An Taisce received only part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the motorway.
In court yesterday Mr Michael O'Donnell, for the group, said his clients were also claiming that part of the motorway was to be constructed along the foreshore. Because this was outside the "functional area" of Fingal County Council, it required the consent of the Minister for the Marine.
The group is also alleging that because the EIS was prepared by the council, it could not be said to be an objective critique of the proposed motorway.
In an affidavit Ms Ann O'Neill, of Gartan Court, Estuary Road, Swords, a director of the group, said Broadmeadow Estuary was an area of especially high amenity. She said experts commissioned by the council to deal with the environmental impact of a high-level bridge across the estuary had recommended a tunnel as it would cause less damage to the environment. However, the authorities were, in error, opting for a bridge.