Wexford has entered the row over the planned Dublin-Waterford highway, rejecting a Carlow description of the N11 as "the road to nowhere".
A cross-party delegation led by the chairman of Wexford County Council, Mr Sean Doyle, and the county manager, Mr Seamus Dooley, met officials from the National Roads Authority yesterday to lobby for the continued upgrading of the east coast route.
The meeting is the latest in a series sparked off by the decision, included in the National Development Plan, to link Dublin to Waterford by a motorway or dual carriageway by 2006.
Wexford interests are incensed that in lobbying for the highway to be routed through Kilkenny and Carlow, campaigners in those areas have seen fit to "cast aspersions" on the N11, which is part of the designated Euro-route linking Belfast and Rosslare.
Amid fears that the NRA will recommend building the motorway or dual-carriageway on the coast, County Carlow Chamber of Commerce labelled this option the "road to nowhere", pointing out that 70 per cent of Dublin-Waterford traffic uses the N9 through Carlow.
Wexford Fianna Fail TD Mr John Browne said Carlow was entitled to campaign on its own behalf. "We have no problem with a major route running through Carlow and Kilkenny, but we're saying `mind your own business about the N11', " he said.
Mr Browne was part of the delegation which yesterday asked the NRA to ensure that proposed developments of the N11, such as bypasses of Gorey and Enniscorthy, go ahead. The upgrading of the N30 from Enniscorthy to New Ross was also on the agenda.
While Wexford does not see itself competing with the Carlow-Kilkenny campaign, Mr Browne said they wished to see a dual carriageway running all the way from Dublin to Rosslare.
The fear in other parts of the south-east is that the NRA may recommend such development as an alternative to upgrading the N9 to motorway or dual carriageway standard. A spokesman for the authority said a report was likely to be completed within three weeks.
He said it would take a "broad view" of the issues concerned, including the populations served by the prospective routes, the distances involved, and the costs. The report will be presented to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, for a final decision.
The chief executive of County Carlow Chamber of Commerce, Mr Gerry Dunne, said the development of the N9 was necessary to meet the infrastructural requirements of Carlow and Kilkenny. "If the necessary investment in this region is not forthcoming, this entire region will be severely disadvantaged," he said.
"The N11 is already a designated the Euro-route for Dublin and as such will be developed in any case to meet the requirements of such a route."