Calls on NRA to allay fears over Duleek motorway

A call to the National Roads Authority (NRA) to divert the proposed Leinster Outer Orbital Route motorway away from sensitive areas of Duleek got strong support from a number of councillors at the June meeting of Meath County Council. The NRA has identified a 2km-wide corridor on the 75km route of the proposed road between Louth and Kildare from which the final route will be chosen. However, the proposal is proving controversial in Duleek where residents and two local councillors say that the corridor impinges on the Commons area and a residental estate, High Meadows. At the June council meeting, Cllr Joe Reilly said they had been told that the motorway was now "on hold". The route had been mentioned in the Navan Development Plan as far back as 1994. He thought it was time to "have a re-look at the route because it is a half-baked plan which will affect sensitive areas of Duleek". Cllr Jimmy Cudden, who lives in the village, said he was confused by statements made by a number of Government ministers on the issue. A few months ago, a minister had said the road was not on the agenda. However, just before the elections, another minister had said it was going to happen. He said the councillors had expressed reservations about what was happening. He could not understand why there were a number of route options on the Kildare end of the proposed motorway but just one on the northern (or Duleek) end. He did not know how the motorway could possibly be built on the proposed route through Duleek because it would go through the existing Irish Cement factory, a housing estate and a bridge. If the councillors did not make their views known, it would be taken by the NRA that they were not interested, he said. "In fact, we have a serious problem with it," Cllr Cudden said. The Slane Electoral Area councillors have already called on the NRA to meet them to discuss the issue, "but we have heard nothing". he added: "Not only does it appear that the NRA is not concerned about this but it also appears that officials here are not very concerned either." Cllr John Farrelly said that "obviously, the NRA is going to do nothing. They have what they have already and are saying to the Government to put this aside or whatever". The NRA's attitude was negative and it was wrong that another part of the country had two to three corridors for definition of the final route while Meath only had one, he went on, proposing councillors write to the minister to outline the difficulties they had with the existing proposed route and asking him to allay the fears of the people of Duleek. Cllr Tommy Reilly said that he had been a supporter of the proposed Leinster Outer Orbital Route from the beginning. He would be "bitterly disappointed" if the project did not go ahead. "We need the Leinster Outer Orbital motorway but we don't need it through the village of Duleek. There's no doubt about that," he said. He agreed with Cllr Farrelly that they should write to the minister. "To propose putting a motorway through a new housing estate is not on, it is just not on." He hoped the Government would see it way to invest in the motorway and also invest in the regional hospital to be located in Navan, added Cllr Reilly. Cllr Ann Dillon Gallagher said that no-one in the NRA had taken into consideration that the motorway would affect families in Duleek. Cllr Seamus O'Neill said the main feeling in Duleek was "fear". There was only one route corridor in the Duleek area and there was speculation as to whether people would be able to get planning permission because of the "freezing" of the land within the corridor. Cllr Wayne Harding said the Slane Electoral Area members would not support the proposed motorway until the fears of the people of Duleek were addressed.