By - Ronald Quinlan and Niamh Horan.
Protester ends tunnel sit-in, only to face relieved
father and her dumped boyfriend
The tunnel protest of Lisa "Squeak" Feeney at the site of the M3 building works ended last night following an appeal from her father, Jim, and the successful conclusion of protracted negotiations between the protesters and the National Roads Authority.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent from the Rath Lugh campsite last night, Mr. Feeney expressed his "profound relief" that his daughter had brought her tunnel protest to an end.
"The protest has just ended I'm glad to say. I'm very, very relieved", said the former hotel manager.
Asked if his daughter had abandoned the tunnel protest at his pleading or because the tunnel was deemed to be unsafe, Mr. Feeney said: "She came out because I asked her to, and following negotiations with the NRA in which a number of things were clarified. I understand a statement will be issued by them [the NRA] shortly. But you're the first with the news again".
Asked if the tunnel was deemed to be safe, Mr. Feeney said: "By its very nature, it's unsafe".
Mr. Feeney told the Sunday Independent that he was looking forward to having his daughter return home with him to Tralee this morning.
Lisa's family are known to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who had added his voice to earlier appeals yesterday to end her protest for the good of her health.
Mr. Ahern has been a regular guest at the Parknasilla Hotel in Kenmare for more than two decades, where Jim Feeney was formerly a manager. Mr. Feeney had led the appeals to his daughter to end her dangerous stunt for the sake of her family.
Yesterday Mr. Ahern spoke of his concerns for the young woman's safety.
"I know Jim very well. I probably knew her too! Well obviously the thing I would say is she had to stop it for her own safety. She's made her point. She's made her protest. She should mind her health", Mr. Ahern said.
She had been so intent on staying in the tunnel for the long haul that she dumped her boyfriend before beginning her protest.
Her "ex", who remains at the protest site, spoke earlier of his heartbreak following her decision to finish their relationship, and of his concerns for her safety. Paddy O'Kearney had vowed to stand by "Squeak", despite being ditched by the eco-warrior.
She told him she was ending their relationship at the same time she revealed she planned to enter the Tara bunker. Speaking from the Rath Lugh fort in Co. Meath, where engineers have been working on the controversial motorway, Mr. O'Kearney spoke for the first time about the break-up.
Asked whether he was proud of his former girlfriend, Mr Kearney replied: "Well, I don't know - seeing as she dumped me two weeks ago when she told me she was going down the hole".
Ms. Feeney, 26, stayed in a 10-metre tunnel dug under the Rath Lugh national monument, some 2.3 miles north-east of the Hill of Tara, as a protest over work on the site.
The Kerry woman, who has lived in Dublin for the past eight years, started her protest just after dawn on Thursday, when demonstrators were served with a notice to move to allow for construction works.
Commenting on the reason "Squeak" ended their relationship, Mr. Kearney said: "I don't know [what her reasons were] and I can't speak for her but I think that [her decision to go down the hole] was part of it, yes. That would be the main reason I reckon".
He continued: "She pretty much [told me she was going down the hole] as she was breaking up with me".
"I would much rather that a road go through this place than for any harm to come to her. Obviously she doesn't feel that way. She feels that this place is far more important than herself".
Ms. Feeney, a psychology graduate from Trinity College Dublin, is part of a group of protesters, called Rath Lugh Direct Action. The group fear the M3 road scheme will destroy the Rath Lugh national monument - an ancient fort beside the 2,000-year-old Hill of Tara.
© The Irish Independent, 16th. March 2008.
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