Roads authority rejects claims of overstated costs

The National Roads Authority, which is to hold a seminar on its archaeological finds this morning, has rejected claims that it overstated costs by about €3 million on one excavation.

The criticism comes from conservationists who pointed out that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report costed archaeological spend at the controversial Carrickmines Castle site in south Dublin at €6.5 million.

However, when the authority and Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council assessed the archaeological spend at the castle as part of an affidavit presented to the High Court, the cost was put at € 9.6 million.

A critic of the authority's policy at Carrickmines, Mr Stephen Devaney, questioned whether the amount spent on the castle could increase by almost 50 per cent in three months.

However, Mr Michael Egan of the roads authority said that the auditor general's report "was not specific to a point in time, April 2004", and he claimed the figure would have predated the auditor's final report. In addition, Mr Egan said there had been an internal audit on the costs before the current hearing.

The final bill for archaeology on the entire South Eastern Motorway which runs from Ballinteer to Shankill - including Carrickmines - was currently running at €12.7 million and would probably rise five to 10 per cent above that, he added.

This morning's seminar on archaeological finds unearthed in the course of the Roads Programme is organised as part of National Heritage Week. It will set these discoveries against the staged process of planning, consultation and excavation that accompanies any major road project. "The seminar will allow anyone with an interest in Ireland's archaeology to come and find out for themselves what exciting discoveries have been made on national road schemes around the country," commented Mr Dáire O'Rourke, senior archaeologist with the NRA.

Items covered will include two neolithic houses in Granny townland, Co Kilkenny; Iron Age toe rings from the N2 Finglas-Ashbourne scheme and a session on "6,000 years of human activity along the route of the N4 Sligo inner relief road".

The seminar is open to groups of school children and the public. It will comprise of a series of short explanatory presentations as well as providing materials, and visual displays of the NRA's archaeological work, and question and answer sessions.

The NRA's "Guide to Archaeology" is available from Ms Ann Church of the NRA on (01) 6602511, ext 305.