Dispute halts work on N11 bypass for nearly a year

Work on a bypass for one of the south-east's worst bottlenecks, the N11 through Gorey, Co Wexford, has been halted for almost a year because of a dispute over compensation for landowners, it has emerged.

There is mounting concern that similar action from landowners along the route of the Kilcock-to-Kinnegad improvement scheme, including the removal of the bottleneck at Enfield, Co Meath, on the Dublin-to-Galway N6 route, will result in a similar shutdown, according to the National Roads Authority.

The N11 is the main link between Dublin and Rosslare Port but its route through Gorey is a source of major congestion. There have been plans for a bypass for almost 10 years.

In a position paper sent to the Government and members of the Oireachtas, the roads authority said the refusal of farmers to allow access to their lands for road planning and site investigation had resulted in "no progress on the Gorey bypass since October 2000".

The NRA also claims that "similar action by landowners since early this year in the case of the Kilcock-Kinnegad and Kinnegad-Athlone schemes" has been supported by the Irish Farmers' Association.

The total compensation package paid to farmers based on the emerging situation on the Kinnegad-Athlone scheme averages £24,000 an acre in respect of the market value, severance, injurious effect and disturbance, according to the NRA document.

The authority has told the Government that it and its legal advisers are examining the avenues open to it "to protect the national roads programme", which is part of the National Development Plan. The authority claimed local personnel have been obstructed and intimidated by members of the farming community.

However, the president of the IFA, Mr Tom Parlon, said his organisation was "not anti-roads or anti-development" and was anxious for a solution to the problem of compensation.

Mr Pat O'Rourke, of the ICMSA, said that part of the problem was that farmers were not being compensated for the proposed use of the land.