Money row may delay ring road

The already delayed start of construction work on the South Eastern Motorway in south Co Dublin may be deferred further due to a row over compensation for Leopardstown Racecourse.

The route, which is the final leg of Dublin's C-Ring connecting Ballinteer with the M11 at Shankill, cuts across the five-furlong gallop at the racecourse but agreement has not been reached with the Irish Horse Racing Association, which owns Leopardstown, on the compensation to be paid.

While Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is empowered to move contractors onto the land before resolving the compensation issue, local politicians fear the action could result in a new legal challenge to the motorway.

The South Eastern Motorway has been dogged by delays including legal chall enges since the public inquiry was held in the mid-1990s. The route selected for the motorway cuts through the grounds of the British embassy residence, Glencairn (now sold), Leopardstown Park Hospital and a local authority estate, as well as the racecourse.

The route also cuts through the granite hillside at Ballinteer as well as some of the State's most expensive real estate at Leopardstown.

Following the selection of the route, the motorway was the subject of a two-year legal challenge by Jackson-Way Properties. Work was to have begun last year with a completion date of 2003, but the best possible date is now expected to be mid to late 2004.

On the prospect of a further delay yesterday, Dublin South Fine Gael TD Ms Olivia Mitchell said it was "an unseemly row between two Government Departments.

"This is effectively a row over money between the Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture under whose aegis the Irish Horse Racing Association operates. Now that the construction is almost ready to commence the Taoiseach must move immediately to end this squabble over the level of compensation.

"How the Taoiseach as chairman of the Cabinet subcommittee on infrastructure can allow this matter to go unresolved is inexplicable and it is indefensible that two State agencies should waste public money settling their dispute in court."