THE M3 protester who emerged from the tunnel at Rath Lugh, near Tara, at the weekend, says she had a "whale of time" underground and was pleased to have won a month-long moratorium on work at the site.
Work will not begin again at Rath Lugh until April 17th, said protester Lisa Feeney, giving M3 opponents enough time to mount further legal challenges to this contentious section of the road which they say is too close to important heritage sites.
"There is a Supreme Court challenge in three weeks, so that will give us enough time to prepare for that," said Ms Feeney.
She said last night that her 60 hours spent underground was a "whale of a time. It was quite comforting to be in the womb of Mother Earth, I could hear a lot of what was going on, the yells and cheers of the crowd".
But Ms Feeney believes that inappropriate pressure was placed on her via her father and uncle who were allowed on site to try and talk her out.
"It was emotional manipulation," she said. "My uncle was told continually that I was going to die. I think it's a violation of my human rights."
Ms Feeney entered the tunnel dug into a hill in the path of the motorway at Rath Lugh at about 7am on Thursday and came out at about 9pm on Saturday, about 60 hours later.
Paddy O'Kearney, a friend of Ms Feeney who talked to her via two-way radio throughout her three-day protest, said: "The situation could have been dealt with in a much better way. There was immense psychological pressure on her from her father and uncle."
Mr O'Kearney described the conduct of the motorway builders as "torture - worse than if they had pulled her fingernails out".
Mr O'Kearney said that construction officials told her family that their daughter's life was at risk. Ms Feeney left Rath Lugh after emerging from the tunnel and was yesterday resting with family, said Mr O'Kearney.
The site of Ms Feeney's protest was sealed off behind a chain-link fence and was yesterday being patrolled by security officers. Protesters have vowed to stay at the site, said Derek Berrill, a spokesman for the Rath Lugh Direct Action Group.
The protest generated much media attention, and yesterday a steady steam of visitors came to see what the fuss was about.