Council Decision Not the End of the Road - Researcher

PRESS RELEASE

Council Decision Not the End of the Road - Researcher

For Release 10/10/2006


A decision by Dun Laoghaire - Rathdown County Councillors to proceed with the Monkstown Ring Road despite its rejection by An Bord Pleanala's Planning Inspector does not mean the road will be eventually built, a Transport Researcher who is opposing the proposed scheme has said.

Mr. Brian Guckian said today that Dun Laoghaire - Rathdown Co. Council's failure to properly examine alternatives to the road scheme in its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and the huge costs of seeking Judicial Review of An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permision for the scheme last June, were both in contravention of the EU Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and a Petition to this effect was now with the European Parliament.

Mr. Guckian said that the material basis for proceeding with the proposed road had been shown to be deeply flawed and unsustainable, and it was disturbing to see Councillors proceeding with it regardless.

This demanded inquiry, he said, and he was also extremely concerned that a sustainable alternative to the scheme, the Monkstown -Stillorgan Greenway, which would facilitate only public transport and would create a linear park along the proposed route, as well as preserving Yankee Terrace off Newtownpark Avenue, had been completely ignored by the Council.

Mr. Guckian further said it was disingenuous of the Council to use the fact there had been no Judicial Review of the proposed scheme as an argument for proceeding with it, since the costs of taking such proceedings under the Irish legal system were completely out of reach of the average citizen.

This was in breach of both Article 10 of the EU Directive on EIA, and the UN/ECE Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998), which Ireland is a signatory to.

Mr. Guckian advised concerned residents not to give up hope, and said he was anxious for decisive and timely EU intervention on this issue.

ENDS

Contact: Brian Guckian 087 9140105 railprojects@eircom.net