Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council has applied to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, for consent to allow it to resume building the Carrickmines junction of the M50 motorway in south Co Dublin.
Work at the site of the medieval castle has been suspended on the instruction of the Supreme Court, which directed that the High Court determine the conservation issues. The council's application, which was submitted to the Minister by the director of traffic, Mr Eamon O'Hare, is being made without prejudice to that High Court action.
Should the Minister give his consent - essentially declaring that the site does not represent a national monument - then it is likely the High Court action will become redundant.
Work on the motorway has been proceeding while the legal issues over the junction are decided. However, compensation claims by the contractor are expected to be significant.
According to the National Roads Authority, the contractor, Ascon Ltd, is already seeking €200,000 a week for delays in starting the project. A similar claim for delays over Carrickmines Castle is expected.
Ascon is specifically precluded from commenting on any aspect of the contract, and the number of weeks for which the company is claiming €200,000 is unclear. However, sources suggest the start-up delay could have put the work schedule out by as much as six months, which represents about €5 million.
The situation has led a Fine Gael council member, Ms Olivia Mitchell, to call for the council to "buy itself out of the South Eastern Motorway contract and start again". While the implications of such a move were "enormous", the council could not be exposed to ongoing claims and a risk it was unable to quantify.
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