The chairman of a Co Carlow GAA club, which is objecting to a proposed €432 million dual carriageway going through its land, told a Bord Pleanála oral hearing yesterday that the club would go as far as the High Court or the European courts to protect its interests.
Mr Ned Deane, chairman of Tinryland GFC, said the club was "not just a recreational facility for the community - it is the heart of the community".
He said Tinryland GFC was, and always had been, willing to reach an accommodation to facilitate the new road. But it had an obligation and responsibility to future generations to ensure the continued viability and prosperity of the major community facilities.
"If this involves re-location so be it. If it involves moving facilities to accommodate the development, so be it. But just pretending it wouldn't affect the club is not an option, and the club will go as far as it has to, be it the High Court or the European courts, to protect the interests of the club," Mr Deane said.
The club's development officer, Mr Shay Byrne, called on Kildare County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) "to stop intimidating a small rural community".
He accused Kildare County Council, which is promoting the 46.2km dual carriageway between counties Kildare and Carlow, and the NRA of having "strangled our club's development and progress for the past 2½ years".
The club grounds at Rathcrogue, Co Carlow, is in the path of the proposed motorway.
It was the sixth day of the oral hearing being held at Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, under the chairmanship of Mr Dom Hegarty.
Mr Byrne said it appeared to the football club that the more they put forward their concerns the closer the road moved to their facilities.
He said the dual carriageway would physically sever the club from its main catchment area, Tinryland village and its environs, with the village lying to the west of the road and the club to the east.
"Because Kildare County Council is creating this problem they should also come up with a solution," he said.
Mr Nicky Brennan, chairman of the Leinster Council of the GAA and a national vice president, expressed the fear that potential juvenile players would go to other local clubs because of the safety problem the proposed dual carriageway would present to Tinryland GFC.
A survey had shown the GAA to be the strongest community-based organisation in the country, being seen as a force for good throughout the country, he said.
Mr Michael Horgan, technical adviser to the GAA's safety council, said that land was the lifeblood of the GAA and land to a thriving, expanding club like Tinryland was absolutely vital.
Local Fine Gael Senator Fergal Browne said the club house was an important facility for the entire community. He said that with the ongoing expansion of Carlow town, Tinryland would become a suburb of Carlow and it was crucial that the GAA club facility be retained.
Cllr Enda Nolan of Fianna Fáil said: "It is time Kildare County Council and the NRA started serving the people and stopped shoving them around."
Mr John Scott, club secretary, said Tinryland GFC had been located at Rathcrogue since 1964.
"We are developing at present a second full size senior playing pitch and a separate juvenile pitch. This has become necessary with the increase in club membership. This new juvenile pitch is now the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order."
The club has about 500 members, and about 200 of these are juveniles, he said.