Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) last night resumed demolition work at the controversial ruins of Carrickmines Castle in south Dublin, to clear the way for the extension to the M50 motorway.
The work, which will continue today, follows the lifting in the High Court last week of an injunction placed against the NRA and the council that had prevented them from conducting any work at the ruins of the site.
The council said it received a licence from the Department of the Environment to allow work to begin on removing the "revetted fosse", the medieval castle's protective ditch.
However, protesters, who want to keep the castle site intact, have concerns that the licence for the demolition may not be valid. "I would ask questions as to whether this licence is valid, as the last time they claimed a licence was valid, it was not. Equally, they claimed that the site was not a national monument when it was," a conservationist, Mr Ruadhan MacEoin, said.
The director of transport with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Mr Eamonn O'Hare, last night said the council was complying with the conditions of a valid licence. "I am satisfied that we have complied with all our legal obligations for any work or processes in relation to the archeology or any other matters at the site."
The protesters said they were in the process of bringing legal proceedings against the resumption of the work, on grounds that a section of the M50 motorway running through the site does not have proper planning permission.
If there were any further challenges, Mr O'Hare said, he would have "no problem" defending them.
"Anything we did, we did legally and with full authority."
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