The proposed £18.5 million dual carriageway through the Glen of the Downs will cut through a 145-acre nature reserve containing the last vestige of the ancient oak forests of Ireland, the High Court has been told.
The nature reserve is an area of great beauty and of scientific and historical interest, containing a number of rare invertebrates, the court heard.
Mr Michael O'Donnell was opening an action by Mr Dermot Murphy, a computer technician, who is seeking an order quashing the decision of Wicklow County Council to proceed with works for the construction of a 5km dual-carriageway through the glen.
Mr Murphy, formerly of Exchequer Street, Dublin, is also seeking declarations that part of the disputed lands comprise a nature reserve, are in the ownership of the State and include public rights of way.
Mr O'Donnell said the area in dispute was of great natural beauty, consisting of a steep glacial over-flow channel on the bottom slopes of which oak trees were predominant. Farther up beech was the predominant tree, followed by holly.
The lands represented one of the last vestiges of ancient forest which once covered the entirety of Ireland. It was also an area of great scientific and historical value, with a rare habitat and a very important eco-system which was home to a number of rare invertebrates, all of which were at risk from the proposed development.
In an affidavit, Mr Keith Brady outlined the environmental history of the glen, saying that the area was of outstanding beauty with abundant references to its beauty as far back as 1796.
The public had always enjoyed access through the glen, Mr Brady said. The first Irish survey - the Down Survey which was published in 1673 - had referred to a road through the glen as Down Caliber.
Mr Brady said the La Touche family, of Huguenot descent and founders of the Bank of Ireland, acquired an estate which included the glen. In the 18th century they commissioned a leading landscape gardener to fashion it in the style of the early picturesque landscape movement.
This resulted in Ireland's most unique geomorphological site and an area of natural beauty similar to the Giant's Causeway, the Lakes of Killarney and the Mountains of Mourne.
In 1814 the current road through the glen was constructed through the woods to facilitate the passage of mail coaches. An earlier road had bypassed the glen but was abandoned because it was narrow and steep.
The La Touche estate was sold in 1904 and in the 1930s the glen was acquired by the forestry department. There was free public passage over the full extent of the glen and in the 1960s pathways were improved and new ways laid out.
In or about 1970 the department of lands created the first nature trail in forestry property, and in 1980 the glen was designated a nature reserve.
If Wicklow County Council was entitled to acquire parts of the glen compulsorily and to develop these regardless of public rights, then no part of the glen was safe, Mr Brady said.
As successors to the La Touche estate, the State, its servants or agents could not use the glen or sanction any use for a purpose inconsistent with public recreation and use as a public park.
The acquisition by Wicklow County Council of the lands from the State by compulsory purchase order was misconceived and void since the paper title to the lands in question was held by the State and land could not be compulsorily acquired from the State, Mr Brady said.
In another affidavit, Mr Murphy said the proposed roadworks would inevitably lead to major destruction through the removal of over 1,700 trees and consequent changes in the water table.
In its defence, Wicklow County Council claims Mr Murphy's challenge was not made within specified time limits and that he does not have locus standi to pursue the proceedings. It also claims the action is vexatious and oppressive and brought solely for the purposes of delay.
The council says it acted in accordance with the law at all material times in carrying out its functions and duties. It claims Mr Murphy's action is invalid because construction of the road scheme has not begun and it has carried out only the preparatory work of tree felling.
In an affidavit, Wicklow county engineer Mr Michael Looby said the original road proposal had been modified and limited to a particular area of land, using insofar as possible the existing road. The new scheme was a compromise between that initially proposed by the council and that requested by the Minister for the Environment.
The area allowed for a reduced design standard through the glen, he said. Approximately 87 per cent of the proposed road would be along the line of the existing road and adjoining disused road. The proposed new road would affect approximately 1 per cent of the woodland in and around the glen.
Mr Looby said the area of State land affected amounted to approximately 0.68 hectares being acquired for the purpose of the road project. About 0.74 hectares of council land which was superfluous to the scheme was being returned to the State, meaning a net gain in the area of land in the ownership of the State.
No right of way or rights of access to the nature reserve, or any right to wander, would be affected.
Mr Looby said the only contract in existence at present was for tree felling. No contract existed in relation to construction of the road.
Fifty per cent of the total tree felling required for the new road was completed on January 14th, 1998. The council undertook to replace dead or dangerous trees substantially, but such replanting could not be done until the road was constructed.
The hearing before Mr Justice Kearns continues today.