The new M3 motorway will pass just 100 metres from a fishing lake where the only sounds are of birds singing, according to Mr David Robinson, proprietor of the Rathbeggan Lakes Angling Centre.
He told an oral hearing by An Bord Pleanála into objections to the motorway, which will run from Clonee to the north of Kells in Co Meath, that he believed the Environmental Impact Assessment had not adequately addressed the issue of noise pollution in the selection of the preferred route for the new road.
"We are concerned that the EIS has not done a correct noise assessment for the fishing areas affected. The assessment was done in the yard of the farm for 45 minutes.
"I am concerned that the motorway will completely change the atmosphere of the lake and I have already had members asking whether they should renew their membership. I can already see financial loss as a result," Mr Robinson told the inspector, Mr Brendan Devlin.
The project engineer, Ms Susan Joyce, who said that the report met all of its legal requirements and that an EIS in relation to a proposed road was different to a general EIS, rejected Mr Robinson's contention that the EIS was flawed in relation to noise pollution. After the hearing, Mr Robinson said that the angling centre had met various EU criteria for grant assistance, but now the EU was funding a road, as a consequence of which he was facing "total jeopardisation" of his business.
Meath County Council is proposing to compulsorily purchase 7½ acres of the 35-acre farm.
The oral hearing also heard from Mr Evan Newell, of Readsland Stud, who said that the Dunshaughlin bypass as well as a motorway interchange and a link road would dissect his family's lands. He argued against the classification of the link road as a rural road. He also challenged the final selection of the route of the bypass, which Ms Joyce said was made by Meath County Council.
The bypass will run for 3 kilometres to the west of Dunshaughlin and Mr Newell says that it will divide the 200 acres of land, which is used for breeding, selling, racing and hunting.
The council is proposing to compulsorily purchase 40 acres of the land and the remainder would be fragmented into three divisions of about 50 acres each.
The oral hearing is currently dealing with the Clonee to Dunshaughlin section of the 60-kilometre route and is not expected to start hearing objections into the Dunshaughlin to Navan section until next week.