The protesters camped on the site of Carrickmines Castle in south County Dublin are bracing themselves this weekend for what they expect is an "imminent push" as a €10 million archaeological dig at the castle comes to an end.
South Dublin County Council, which is seeking to build a motorway interchange on the site of the castle remains, has confirmed that it now expects the work to "move to the next stage over the coming days".
The council's senior engineer in charge of the project, Mr Eamonn O'Hare, told The Irish Times yesterday the "next stage" involved the removal of a section of castle fosse - essentially a walled ditch - from the line of the motorway, for conservation elsewhere on the site.
The castle was blown up in 1642 after surviving for about 500 years as a fortification for the city of Dublin.
The remains were discovered as part of the archaeological dig which was a requirement of the motorway planning process.
The removal of the fosse is, however, exactly what the "Carrickminders" have vowed to oppose and yesterday morning solicitors' letters on their behalf were received by the county manager, Mr Derek Brady.
The Carrickminders said the letters were the first formal step in a process which would lead to an application to the High Court to halt the construction work.
There is now speculation on both sides as to what will happen next: the removal of the fosse or the application to the court.
Both sides are agreed, however, that with the archaeological dig ending, confrontation of some kind is likely in the coming week.
According to the Carrickminders, it was expected that the council would "try to get the archaeologists to do their dirty work for them in removing the section of fosse, but we will be there and we hope that as archaeologists they will refuse to be so destructive".
The spokesman said the current protest at the camp would be stepped up and the hope was that the archaeologists would be reluctant to proceed.
The protesters attended a meeting with the council and the National Roads Authority last week at which, according to the protesters, significant differences between the attitude of the council and the roads authority were revealed.
"We felt the authority was interested in moving the line of the motorway slightly and perhaps not concerned to have the interchange, but that the council would not budge," he said.
However, Mr O'Hare said that at the meeting the council had formally advised the protesters they were occupying the land illegally and that they should leave.
Mr O'Hare also said the council had made it clear there could be no movement of the line of the motorway.
On the next step, Mr O'Hare said the archaeological dig at the castle had now cost about €10million and he felt, with the excavations ending, the archaeologists would move ahead with the conservation of the section of fosse as planned.
He said the protest was not delaying construction of the motorway, but it was hampering the contractor.
He estimated the motorway would be completed by early 2005. When construction started, the road was expected to be open to traffic by autumn 2004.
