Opponents of the M3 motorway through Co Meath yesterday tied themselves to a fence in the Roestown area of the route as construction work on the road got under way in earnest. Tim O'Brienreports.
Some five members of the "Solidarity Vigil" - a group which is currently camping at Roestown, north of Dunshaughlin - staged the protest because of the destruction of an archaeological site in the area.
Gardaí were called to the scene but it is understood no arrests were made.
A spokeswoman for the contractors Siac Ferrovial said the protest was peaceful and did not impact on the construction activity.
Work began earlier this year on the €1 billion toll-motorway link between north of Kells and Clonee in Co Meath.
However the work immediately ran into difficulty when a new archaeological feature was discovered at Lismullin.
The 60km road had already emerged as one of the most controversial in the national roads programme because of its proximity to the Hill of Tara.
The archaeological site at Roestown is at a point where the new M3 motorway crosses the existing N3 for the first time, going out from Dublin. The site known as "Roestown 2" is already bisected by the old main road.
Roestown 2 is one of three large enclosure complexes identified during the geophysical survey of the Dunshaughlin to Navan stretch of the motorway.
The other two sites identified were at Baronstown and Dowdstown. Archaeologists determined Roestown and Dowdstown were likely to be early medieval settlements, while Baronstown could be early medieval or prehistoric.
The site is situated on a slight terrace adjacent to what was formerly Redbog, north of Dunshaughlin, approximately 3km from Lagore crannog.
The main focus of the site is a large D-shaped enclosure of about 70m by 55m with a number of internal divisions and external annexes, some of which are likely to have been animal enclosures.
Efforts to contact the protesters yesterday were not successful but the environmentalist Vincent Salafia said the road was always likely to run into opposition.
Mr Salafia said a conference on the motorway at which leading academics would discuss the project, would be held in Trinity College Dublin on Monday next at 11am.
The conference, entitled The Hill of Tara: The Historical and Cultural Significance, is being hosted by the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Trinity. Speakers include: Dr Seán Duffy FTCD, department of medieval history; Dr Gerald Morgan FTCD, department of law and Mr Vincent Salafia JD, department of law, TCD (Ll.M candidate)
A spokesman for the National Roads Authority said yesterday's protest was peaceful and did not interfere with the roadway construction.
"We respect the rights of people to make a peaceful protest," he said.