EU threatens huge fines
- if Tara M3 work is not halted
By - Unknown.
WORK on the controversial section of the M3 near the Hill
of Tara must now stop.
And the Government now faces the prospect of being hit
with millions of euro in fines if it allows construction
to proceed.
The Irish Independent has learned that the EU Commission
has told the Government that no work can be carried out
near the national monument discovered at Lismullin, Co.
Meath.
And it has ordered that a comprehensive assessment of
what impact the road will have on the Tara Skryne Valley
be carried out before the road is built.
The warning came as a legal challenge was launched
yesterday aimed at stopping the proposed motorway.
Michael Canney from the Campaign to Save Tara group
issued legal proceedings against the Minister for the
Environment, the Minister for Transport, the National
Roads Authority and Eurolink Ltd, the consortium awarded
the construction and tolling contract.
The case centres on how the route of the motorway was
chosen and Mr. Canney alleges that a comprehensive
assessment of each route was not carried out in line with
EU law before the "preferred" route was chosen.
And the Irish Independent can reveal that the EU
Commission has warned the Government that Ireland is in
breach of EU law by not carrying out a second
investigation after the discovery of a national monument
along the route.
Former Environment Minister Dick Roche, in one of his
last acts in office, issued a direction that the
Lismullin monument be excavated before the road is built
over it.
But a spokesperson for EU Environment Commissioner
Stavros Dimas said yesterday that Ireland was in breach
of EU law by not carrying out a second Environmental
Impact Assessment after the monument was discovered.
"At the moment we are still talking to the Irish
authorities", the spokesperson said. "We want a second
assessment. The road cannot be built until the second
assessment is done".
"We have a legal disagreement with Ireland. We are saying
you have now uncovered this national monument, and you
cannot proceed until there is a second assessment".
In a separate development Michael Canney is seeking a
court ruling that construction works on the motorway
should be halted pending the outcome of the case
currently being taken by the EU Commission.
The case is the first of three threatened legal
challenges to the €800m motorway planned to help
ease congestion on the Dublin to Meath route.
Yesterday Mr. Canney said it was being taken as a "last
resort" and because the "political and commercial
backers" of the project had ignored public concerns about
the road.
"It has never been my ambition to put my name forward in
a legal challenge, especially a challenge against such a
seemingly impregnable array of powerful political and
economic forces", he said.
"I have only done so as a last resort, and only because
it is absolutely essential that the silent majority who
oppose this road have their concerns heard".
© The Irish Independent, 30th. August 2007.
