M3 group threatens NRA, council with legal action

Opponents of the controversial M3 motorway have sent a solicitor's letter to Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA).

The letter gives until April 4th for the two bodies to respond. Written on behalf of Vincent Salafia of the

Save Tara Skryne Valley Group the letter says: "We wish to put you on notice that if you decide not to order that works cease, we will issue appropriate proceedings to bring the works to a halt."

"The more preparatory and building works go on, the less likely it is that the Minister will be in a position, either politically or practically, to issue directions which would alter the route of the motorway".

Mr Salafia told ireland.com this afternoon the letter had been sent to pre-empt the council and NRA effectively starting work before the final route was sanctioned.

However, this evening, Michael Egan of the NRA categorically denied that the authority or agents acting for it were carrying out works on the route. He said the letter was "misdirected" and that Mr Salafia needed to be "a bit better informed."

Mr Egan said no undertaking to cease works would be provided because no work was being carried out or had been carried out in the past.

Mr Salafia also disputed Minister for the Environment Dick Roche's assertion that the planning process for the M3 was complete. "I would refute that the planning process is over. They [a transport and environmental committee] are generating a report to give to him so for him to make a decision now, would be legally I believe, premature."

Issuing licences for archeological excavation at the sites identified in the Tara Skryne Valley is the next step for the Minister. It is reported in today's Irish Times that Mr Roche intends to issue these licences, paving the way for the construction of the M3 along its current planned route.

Mr Roche responded on East Coast FM today saying that "the mere fact that somebody initiates or threatens to initiate legal action doesn't necessarily mean that the courts are going to agree."

"Many of the people who are now vociferous on this issue didn't even make a submission during the course of the planning process and it is a little late in the day for them to come in on that issue."

The Minister said he has a decision to make in the context of the monuments legislation "as to whether or not I licence the excavations."

His role in the decision-making process was defined in a statement from the Department this evening as "confined to the regulation of the archaeological works along the approved route by way of directions which are issued to the road authority" following consultation with the director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace, whose detailed comments are being considered by his officials.

Yesterday the Minister received an 18-page letter from the director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace, who outlined his objection to the proposed route and in particular the proposed interchange to the north of the Hill of Tara.

Mr Roche said he was directing his officials to make a point by point response to Dr Wallace. "He is making some general comments on the road and . . . . the appropriateness of some planning elements in the road."

Labour party spokesman on the environment, Eamon Gilmore, said if Mr Roche grants the licences he "will be ignoring the advice of heritage experts, including the Director of the National Museum, and may be facilitating an act of unprecedented cultural vandalism which could destroy priceless Celtic heritage".