Residents objecting to the construction of a motorway through parkland in Co Meath have called for the re-establishment of a rail link between Navan and Dublin as an alternative to the road-building project.
Ms Claire Oakes of the Bellinter Residents Association, just outside Navan, said she couldn't understand why there was an emphasis on building motorways to solve all the State's traffic problems.
She claimed the proposed 45km motorway between Clonee and Kells which includes by-passes of Navan and Dunshaughlin, wasn't really necessary.
She said it was designed to improve the road from Navan to Dublin but people couldn't keep driving to Dublin. A decent public transport system had to be organised instead.
She said the best alternative was to re-establish the rail link between Navan and Dublin.
"It could be up and running within 18 months for a fraction of the cost of this motorway and at a fraction of the devastation to the landscape if the political will to do it was there," she said.
"Everything I value about this place, which is a lovely rural environment on the banks of the Boyne, will be radically altered if this motorway is built," she added.
The Bellinter Residents Association will make a submission next week to an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing on the proposed motorway.
Mr Alan Clarke, secretary of the residents association, said he and his neighbours were particularly upset at plans to route the motorway through Dalgan Park, "a valuable community asset" provided by the Columban Missionaries and enjoyed by so many.
The Columban Missionaries have also objected to the construction of the motorway through its land in Co Meath. The order's 540 acres at Dalgan Park includes woodlands and walks.
Father Pat Raleigh, the Columban Missionaries' peace and justice co-ordinator, will tell the hearing later this week why he believes the project would constitute "an act of desecration".
He said it would destroy parkland at the foot of the Hill of Tara, an area of historical and archaeological significance.