The opening of the Balbriggan by-pass by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, was disrupted yesterday by the combined action of the weather and hundreds of demonstrators protesting against Tooman dump.
The north Dublin tip-head, beside Lusk and about a mile from Baleally, has been at the centre of objections from residents of the Baleally, Annsbrook, Rogerstown and Tooman areas for some time. They point to the environmental damage and nuisance the dump, in use for 25 years, has caused and is continuing to cause to a predominantly rural community, and are seeking the use of new technologies of waste management which require no landfill and produce no toxic emissions.
"We're not being taken seriously," said Ms Sarah Harmon, of the Tooman Anti-Dump Committee. "We asked the Minister to meet us, and he refused to do so. We had no other alternative but to demonstrate."
The new motorway by-passes the town of Balbriggan, long a bottleneck on the N1 route to Belfast, and runs to 13 kilometres in length. It cost £43 million.
Mr Dempsey said the route of the by-pass was selected to cause minimum conflict with the landscape, and that Fingal County Council was planting over 50 hectares with some 600,000 trees and shrubs, mainly native Irish species.