The Progressive Democrat TD, Fiona O'Malley, has welcomed the Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen's publication of a bill that will clear the way for the completion of the M50 motorway in south Dublin.
Ms O’Malley said the bill to amend the National Monuments Act was ‘good news for the tens of thousands of motorists who have suffered as a result of the ongoing delay at Carrickmines’.
However, in a critical comment, the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown TD said the bill should have been brought forward ‘much sooner’, describing the Carrickmines impasse as a ‘costly fiasco’.
The pressure group Friends of the Irish Environment said that the Government had been found by the courts to be in breach of the National Monuments Acts on two occasions.
In a statement, the group said that the Government should comply with the legislation instead of ‘dismantling our protection of national heritage’.
The FIE added that introducing legislation without consolation is a recipe for future court battles.
Reacting to the bill this afternoon, the Fine Gael TD, Olivia Mitchell, welcomed the green light being given to the M50 project, but claimed there was a ‘glaring omission’ in the bill because it fails to define what constitutes a national monument.
Ms Mitchell said it was ‘very disappointing’ that, having waited a full six months for the legislation to appear, it does not ‘actually address the underlying problem’.
This afternoon, Mr Cullen announced the publication of the bill, saying that it not only addressed the legal battle surrounding the medieval ruins at Carrickmines Castle, but also the wider delivery of a road infrastructure when confronted by archaeological finds.
In a statement, Mr Cullen claimed the legislation achieved a fine balance between the need for development of national infrastructure and the ‘maximum protection’ of Ireland's heritage.
Mr Cullen said that, given the urgency of the M50 project, the bill would be enacted before the summer Dáil recess.
