Meath and Kildare byelections: Meath's Green Party candidate Fergal O'Byrne is standing on the side of the Dublin road, just outside Navan, alongside his party leader, Trevor Sargent. He is pointing to a large, lined, open pit.Infrastructure the focus of Greens' campaign in Meath
This, he explains, is the latest example of Meath's infrastructure deficit; a sewerage overflow station which is needed because the four-year-old waste treatment plant for the town is unable to cope.
He has recently been informed that sewage is also being taken by tanker from the sewerage plant at Farganstown to Dublin's Ringsend facility. "Even the effluent has to commute to Dublin," Trevor Sargent says.
Infrastructure, or the lack of it, is very much the focus of the Green Party campaign in Meath, and the party is keen to shed the perception that it is anti-development. O'Byrne says he is not opposed to the M3, but believes the current route should be changed to avoid the Tara-Skryne valley.
Indeed, he believes that if a more direct route could be chosen, then a transport corridor could be created to accommodate a rail line.
The road has become a big election issue, with surveys indicating that many people want the current route to proceed, because of fears that a rerouting would cause delays, which has been seized upon by Fianna Fáil.
The Green candidate is irate at what he sees as deliberate misinformation."The protesters haven't delayed this road at all. It's the Government that has delayed things, because they wanted to toll it.
"Originally a dual carriageway was planned for this road, with bypasses of Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells, and the existing road in between being upgraded. It would be built by now, if they'd gone ahead with it.
"Instead the Government decided to bring in tolling, and because dual carriageways can't be tolled, they upgraded the M3 to motorway, and we're still waiting for it."
Fergal O'Byrne is an election veteran at this stage, having stood and lost in both the council election last year and 2002 general election. He acknowledges his chances are slim, but isn't despondent. "Anything can happen in a byelection."
His canvas hit an unforeseen block however. It's Mother's Day and, unusually for a Sunday, almost every house is empty. The full car parks in the hotels and restaurants indicate most Navan mammies had been taken out for lunch.
At the few houses where someone is at home, O'Byrne gets a good welcome.
"At least you've come to the door, not like them others waiting at the escalators in the shopping centre," says one indignant voter.