It may have fended off a motorway, but a rare snail has proved too weak for that vagary of Irish life, the rain.
It has emerged that last year's unprecedented rainfall has had a significant impact on the population of the rare whorl snail, (angistora vertiego) in Pollardstown Fen, Co Kildare, when many of them drowned following a rise in water levels.
The snail was at the centre of a major controversy after the Government was forced to delay work on the Kildare town bypass for two years over environmental concerns.
Conservationists complained that the water source of Pollardstown Fen would be destroyed by the road's design.
Work recommenced on the bypass in 2000 after a major redesign, which added 6 million to the cost.
However, despite the measures, a significant proportion of the snails died last winter.
Local authority staff have been monitoring four stations at the fen. A spokesman said: "One of the ecologists noted the snails had ceased to be at one of the stations. It appears that due to excessive rainfall they drowned. This was an entirely natural occurrence and in any event we are confident the snails will recolonise. The occurrence had nothing whatsoever to do with the construction of the motorway."