Conservationist awaiting court case on National Monuments Act

Conservationist Vincent Salafia yesterday lost his High Court attempt to halt the planned construction of the 50 kilometre M3 motorway, which is to pass close to the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.

A new legal challenge to the €800 million motorway will depend on next week's outcome of a Supreme Court test of the constitutionality of the National Monuments Act.

While Mr Salafia was studying the emphatic, High Court judgment yesterday, his legal team said it would await a decision from the Supreme Court - due next Thursday - on the constitutionality of the National Monument Act 2004.

The Act gives Minister for the Environment Dick Roche power to decide how archaeology should be preserved. Should that be found to be unconstitutional, then a Supreme Court challenge to the M3 motorway is almost certain.

However, if the Act is found to be constitutional, a Supreme Court appeal against yesterday's 60 page decision given by Mr Justice Thomas Smyth would be more difficult.

Mr Salafia and his legal team are expected to apply to the High Court for the costs of their failed action, on March 14th. Costs of both sides in the seven day hearing are expected to be in the region of €500,000. In his emphatic 2½ hour judgment, Mr Justice Smyth dismissed attempts to halt the planned construction of the road on archaeological grounds, dismissed Mr Salafia's "local standing" as a person immediately affected by the proposed road and criticised the timing of the action.

Mr Justice Smyth said Mr Salafia had failed to take part in the planning process and had waited two years after that process was completed before seeking a judicial review. He described Mr Salafia's reason for the two year delay - that he had been preoccupied with the Carrickmines road protest - as "wholly unconvincing".

The delay was, he said, a key issue which alone could lead to the dismissal of the case, but he went on to say that Mr Salafia's belief that the landscape of the Tara Skryne Valley is a national monument, "is erroneous".

Mr Salafia said he was planning to study the judgment with his legal team over the coming days. His legal team said no decision would be made until after next Thursday's expected ruling on the constitutional issue.

However, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority said the judgment was "highly detailed, definitive and appropriate".

He noted that the contentious section of the route, through the Tara Skryne Valley was "actually further away from the Hill of Tara than the existing N3". He also noted Justice Smyth's assertion that a more preferable route identified by Mr Salafia had been seen as the least desirable option by experts at the original planning hearing.

If there was no further legal challenge archaeological work would continue for another year and construction would start in the spring of 2007.

The Minister said he hoped the decision "would bring finality to the matter". The decision was also welcomed by Fine Gael TD for Meath Shane McEntee who described it as a "victory for commuters".