IWAI seeks Minister's intervention in halting work on £70 m Kildare bypass

The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland has called on the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to take court action to stop work on the Kildare bypass.

After long delays created by environmental concerns on the Pollardstown Fen, an important regional aquifer, clearance for the tendering process for the £70 million bypass was finally given by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, early last year. However, the IWAI says conditions imposed by Mr Dempsey in granting permission for the project may not be enough to protect the aquifer.

The project will use a system known as "tanking", the National Roads Authority has agreed. Pioneered in the Netherlands, tanking is used in road and bridge building as a controlling mechanism for groundwater drainage.

The IWAI says the current scheme still involves cutting a trench into the aquifer when there is no apparent reason for this. The association has written to the Minister, Ms de Valera, insisting that she is required "to make an application to a court of competent jurisdiction to prohibit the continuance of the operation or activity".

The IWAI quotes European directives on habitat protection and a number of Government statutory instruments in support of its case. In a letter to the Minister the IWAI argued: "Building the road on the surface would avoid any risk to the fen and would probably be cheaper and quicker to construct. No compelling reason for excavating below the water-table has been offered.

"We are surprised that we have not been allowed to hear from your own Department's experts, even though they share with you responsibility for the protection of all SAC (Special Areas of Conservation) sites. We are further surprised that nothing has been heard from these same experts in response to an EU request for written reports in 1998.

"We remind you also that the EU requested the Irish Government to cease all works on this project. This request to cease all works is still valid today.

"It seems to us that you have a statutory obligation to implement the law by prosecuting the bodies or persons whose actions have the potential to have significant adverse effects on the aquifer and the fen."

The president of the IWAI, Mr Colin Becker, has also written to the Minister asking her to join the association on a walk through Pollardstown Fen on February 25th.