Protesters blockade Carrickmines contractors

Protesters opposing the building of the M50 motorway through the archaeological site of Carrickmines Castle in south Dublin were forced to step up their action yesterday to stop heavy digging machinery from entering the site.

Contractors employed by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council attempted to enter the site with a large digging machine and a dumping truck shortly after 8 a.m yesterday but were prevented from doing so by the protesters.

The protesters, a group of conservationists calling themselves the "Carrickminders", used their own cars to barricade the three entrances at the south end of archaeological site to prevent the machinery from passing the perimeter. A two-hour stand-off ensued, during which the contractors left the machines' engines running but did not attempt to move the cars, before the contractors finally left the site.

A spokesman for the Carrickminders, Mr Ruadhan Mac Eoin, said the group would continue to deny admission to the site for as long as necessary.

"The contractors were about to use a large caterpillar-style digger and an articulated dump lorry, which would completely destroy the site," he said.

"The people here are prepared to sit down in front of this machinery each day and we will stay on the site as long as strategically necessary."

Mr Mac Eoin added that the group's legal representatives were currently exploring ways to file litigation to stop building work from going ahead. He said that yesterday's event was in direct contravention of a statement made by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, last week that no heavy machinery would be placed on the archaeological site.

"We're only seeing that Minister Brennan's words are brought into force," Mr Mac Eoin said.

The director of transportation of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Mr Eamonn O'Hare, said the machines at the site yesterday had "nothing to do with the construction of the motorway" and were there in an archaeological capacity under licence obtained by Dúchas last week.