Conservationists have threatened to file a second lawsuit if the Minister for the Environment permits work to resume at Carrickmines Castle, which is on the route of the South Eastern motorway in south Dublin.
It has been suggested that the Minister, Mr Cullen, will give his consent within the next week, and the matter will then have 21 days to go before the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Last month the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council county manager wrote to Mr Cullen, asking him to join with the council in giving consent to remove a medieval fosse, or walled ditch, at Carrickmines Castle. Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Cullen said no decision had been made yet.
Earlier this year, conservationists Mr Gordon Lucas and Mr Dominick Dunne won a Supreme Court injunction to stop work at the site so the High Court could determine the conservation issues.
That case has not yet been heard but the council believes it would be made redundant if the Minister gave his consent to resume the work.
Yesterday the Carrickmines Castle Preservation Group, which includes historical and environmental campaigners, said they would immediately seek a new injunction if Mr Cullen allowed work to go ahead.
The council's director of traffic, Mr Eamon O'Hare, said this plan was "a nonsense".
"They got an injunction on the basis that we didn't have consent from the Minister. Now we have applied for the consent and they want to get another injunction."
Mr O'Hare said the rising costs of the motorway project were extremely worrying. The South Eastern Motorway was due to open in October 2004, he said but that deadline had already been missed. It would be at least 2005 before the road was finished now.
"This is having a serious impact on the Irish Exchequer, the taxpayer, and on all the people who are trying to do business and who need the motorway completed," Mr O'Hare said.
Earlier this year, the National Roads Authority said the contractor, Ascon Ltd, was seeking €200,000 a week for delays and a similar claim for delays over Carrickmines Castle was expected.
Mr Vincent Salafia, spokesman for the Carrickmines Preservation Group, said the council's application for consent had "completely circumvented" the local councillors and their constituents. It had attempted to circumvent the Supreme Court judgment and was side-tracking the Attorney General.
The Attorney General is named as a plaintiff with the conservationists in the Carrickmines case because they are seeking to enforce a public right.
Asked if it was a conflict of interest to have the Attorney General named in an action against Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, a Government spokesman said the Attorney General regularly gave his consent in such issues and it was a "technical legal requirement".
