A Pounds 5.5 million waste-baling and recycling plant is planned for Ballyogan in south Co Dublin even though a 500-year-old fortification of Dublin city runs through the site.
In fact Pale Ditch, which once marked the city boundaries and protected it from invasion, crosses the proposed site.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council plans to build the recycling plant on the northern side of the ditch. To the south, land is to be used for organic waste-recycling.
Speaking at Monday night's county council meeting, officials said the ditch had been breached in the past before its significance was noted. It was now proposed to use this to provide north-south access on the site. "No further breaches will be necessary," council officials assured the members.
Under existing legislation the council is required to publish an Environmental Impact Statement and notify the Office of Public Works, which is charged with protection of the Pale Ditch.
New legislation expected to be in force before work on the project begins requires the council to secure a waste licence which must be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.
. The Pale Ditch was built after the 1494 Act of Parliament which required landowners living in Dublin to provide an outer protection for the city. As a result the Pale Ditch encircled Dublin between the 15th and 17th centuries.
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