An Taisce's complaint to the European Commission about the impact of the Kildare Bypass on Pollardstown Fen "goes over the same ground" as some of the evidence given to the public inquiry into the scheme in 1993, according to the National Roads Authority.
The ministerial decision to approve the scheme in January 1996 "took on board" the main concerns expressed at the inquiry by the Office of Public Works - for example, by raising the level of the motorway in the proposed cutting by two metres, the NRA said.
Kildare County Council noted that An Taisce was not represented at the inquiry. "It comes as something of a surprise to find it objecting at this stage when it had an opportunity in 1993 to fully debate the whole case," said Mr Dick Burke, senior design engineer. Mr Burke confirmed that the main reason for putting part of the bypass in a cutting was to minimise noise and air pollution in the vicinity of the National Stud and other stud farms in the vicinity. Thoroughbred racehorses are particularly susceptible to noise.
He also confirmed that the only contracts signed so far related to ancillary works. The main contract for the bypass, including the 3 km cutting, has yet to go to tender - and this will not happen until the European Commission is satisfied.
"We don't anticipate any interference with the fen at all," Mr Burke said.
"That's just our opinion and it remains to be seen. But a committee has been set up to monitor what's happening and, if something untoward happens, to implement remedial measures." Mr John Fleming, senior engineer with the NRA, said a £500,000 budget had been set aside for monitoring, which is being done by a consortium headed by K.T. Cullen, the hydro-geologists which prepared this element of the environmental impact statement.
He said the consultants were "within two months" of putting a new hydro-geological model in place to judge what impact the cutting would have on the Curragh Aquifer and Pollardstown Fen. As soon as this was ready, it would be submitted to Brussels.
Mr Fleming also said the groundwater monitoring programme would continue during the construction phase and for five years thereafter.