Preparatory work for the new M3 motorway from Clonee to Kells in Co Meath was temporarily disrupted yesterday when Save Tara campaigners held a protest against the controversial road.
A handful of protesters entered a site at Baronstown, near Dunshaughlin, where scrub, trees and soil were being removed. They sat in front of machinery that was being used to move the scrub. They also sat in the buckets of earth-moving equipment to prevent them from being used.
Work on the site was halted and workers vacated the area in advance of an inspection by health and safety consultants.
The action marked the beginning of a campaign against preparatory tree felling along the route of the M3, including near national monument Rath Lugh, the site of a promontory fort in the Tara-Skryne Valley and at Ardsallagh, where a large number of trees have been removed.
Protesters argued that work other than archaeological excavation should not be taking place before an oral hearing on the National Roads Authority (NRA) draft tolling scheme for the motorway takes place later this month and before contracts have been signed with Eurolink, who are the preferred bidder for the project.
Eric Burke, a protester who lives close to Ardsallagh and whose garden is included in a compulsory purchase order for the road, said the tree felling began just before Christmas.
"They did not give us notice the trees would be coming down, they just came in and did it," he said.
"They haven't finalised the tolling scheme yet, so why have they started this?"
Local Sinn Féin councillor Joe Reilly has called for work on the route of the M3 to cease as the public-private partnership contract has not yet been signed.
However, a spokesman for the NRA said the preparatory work was not part of the main contract to build the M3 but was being done ahead of the site transfer and was being carried out by a firm sub-contracted to Meath County Council.
He also said the draft tolling scheme was a separate issue from the construction of the motorway and the motorway could still go ahead regardless of the outcome of the oral hearing.
"The gap can be filled in other ways," he said.
On yesterday's protest, the spokesman said the contractor had taken appropriate measures.
"There was no need to cause controversy, the decision was to make sure no one was put in harm's way, even if they were willing to put themselves in harm's way. The mature stance was not to engage and to move to work elsewhere," he said.
"That is what the contractor did. A health and safety consultant was called in and the gardaí were informed of the situation, but because it did not escalate they did not need to come out."
