Council seeks order to remove 'Carrickminders'

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is to seek a High Court order on Monday for the removal of protesters from the archaeological site at Carrickmines Castle.

The council has begun proceedings against two of the protesters, Mr Vincent Salafia and Mr Gordon Lucas, and other unnamed protesters, aimed at clearing the site for the construction of the South-Eastern Motorway.

The council is demanding that the protesters, who style themselves as "Carrickminders", stop "trespassing and interfering with the work of the county council's agents".

Last week, up to 30 protesters blocked archaeologists from removing part of a 12th-century revetted fosse (stone-lined ditch), which is to be preserved nearby. Once this is completed, work on the motorway will begin on the site. If the council obtains a trespass order, any protesters who remain on the property would be in contempt of court and liable to be arrested.

With the motorway now in construction on either side of Carrickmines Castle, the council says any delays caused by the protesters will cost it between €50,000 and €100,000 a week.

The council began legal proceedings earlier this week but counsel of the Carrickmines, Mr Colm MacEochaidh, was given until yesterday to file an affidavit in reply to the council's submission. The matter will be heard by Mr Justice Gilligan on Monday.

Meanwhile, negotiations to effect a compromise between the council and the protesters have not yet been exhausted. Two weeks ago, the Friends of Carrickmines Castle group submitted proposals which they say would allow the motorway to go ahead yet preserve most of the site.

These would involve raising the dual carriageway by 1-1.5 metres and dropping plans for an ancillary road and roundabout servicing lands owned by the controversial English company, Jackson Way.

Yesterday, the council's director of transportation, Mr Éamonn O'Hare, confirmed he had received the proposals. However, he said more information and drawings were needed. He said construction work on the roundabout would not start until An Bord Pleanála ruled whether a new Environmental Impact Statement was needed.

Yesterday was the 151st day of the Carrickminders' occupation of the castle site.