The various controversies over the National Roads Authority's ambitious road-building programme continue to rage in the midlands.
The latest decision on the final route of the N7 upgrade from Nenagh to Castletown and from Nenagh to Limerick has stiffened the resolve of the affected residents and landowners to oppose the route all the way.
A public meeting was held in Moneygall immediately following the decision at the weekend.
Many of those whose lands are affected have decided not to take up the offer of a one-to-one meeting with county council officials and members of the design team because they feel they are being given insufficient information.
"Some people did not even get their letters on Friday," said Mr Jim Minogue, spokesman for those opposing the route. "This is a very emotional issue for people.
"They are not giving us enough information. In some cases the NRA has not even been on the lands in question and all they are giving to people is aerial photographs."
The reason, however, the NRA has not been on the lands is because of ongoing negotiations with the IFA over land acquisition throughout the State for these projects. Farmers are refusing access to their lands and are holding out for a package of compensation measures. A total of 27 issues are under discussion between the IFA and the Department of the Environment and a document is expected shortly, an IFA spokesman said.
Around 140 landowners should now have letters informing them their properties are likely to be affected by the route. Environmental Impact Statements and Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) are expected to proceed as quickly as possible, but given the complicated negotiations, this may yet be some time away.
However, according to Mr Minogue, some landowners did not receive their letters by post, as planned, last Friday.
Many who understood their properties would be affected were left waiting until Monday to find out their fate, he said.
Meanwhile, NRA representatives met the 11 householders whose homes are likely to be demolished to accommodate the new route. However, other houses may be affected at a later stage in the scheme.
Mr Jim Ryan from the Camblin, near Roscrea, said he and his wife would not attend a private meeting with NRA officials scheduled for yesterday.
"The reason I'm not going is that, if you are going to any meeting, you expect an agenda or some reason why you are to be there. We would be going in blind. The only information they will give us is a general map. I would feel very vulnerable going into it."
Although he is a member of the IFA, compensation is not the issue, he insists. He would prefer to keep his farm intact.
"You could have this thing hanging over you for 10 years before there's any development, with no payment made at all. You couldn't do anything (with your farm) in the meantime.
"We inherited a farm of about 90 acres 20 years ago. It had been badly neglected and we've spent that time trying to make it into something respectable. We have a family of seven, including five boys.
"We've now got it to a reasonably good level where it's profitable, but only in the last two years. All our land is in one block and there's only one field with road frontage.
"If the road goes where it's proposed, it will come in behind the house, leaving us with about 18 acres and the rest of the land landlocked on the far side.
"From what we've seen of the NRA and how they've handled other situations, they will sometimes give you a tunnel, but that's no good to us.
"Unfortunately, this road will come through the best of our lands, where we get good silage.
"Even if we are given access, the road will make the farm something much less than it is at the moment."
Mr Ryan says the family got into considerable debt to turn the farm into what it is today. "It's a source of tremendous pride and tremendous hard work has gone into it."
Mr Ryan will attend the forthcoming public meetings, which will be held throughout the midlands region over the next few weeks. The full plans will be on display. "If nothing else, because I'm dying of curiosity."