An organic farm which has been the inspiration for the Philippa series of romantic novels is to be bisected by the new Dublin/Galway road.
Louise Cooper, of Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath, got the inspiration for three of her novels on her family farm just off the main Dublin-Galway road.
Philippa's Farm, Philippa's Folly and Philippa's Flight have established the Dublin-born mother of two as one of the foremost writers in Ireland.
Her second novel was a bestseller but, according to her submission to Westmeath County Council and the National Roads Authority, her family farm and the space she created to become a writer are under threat.
"As a writer I need peace and quiet in which to work. This will not be possible either in the construction or the completion of the preferred route, not to mention the attendant stress and anxiety in relation to the contemplation of such a future," the novelist wrote.
"Not only does a threat to my livelihood and peace of mind as a writer loom large, but that of farming also. Our holding will be split in two, the larger part being completely cut off by the preferred route.
"We bring fodder to this part of the farm on a daily basis for about six months of the year and bring animals backwards and forwards to the house end of the farm," she said in the submission.
This week Ms Cooper said she was heartbroken at the decision to run the route through the farm, which is one of the longest-established and largest organic farms of its kind in Ireland.
"If the road goes ahead as planned, it will ruin my livelihood as a writer and a farmer, wreck our watercourses, ruin our health, and it will not allow us to feed or look after our animals. "I drew my inspiration from this place and it looks as if it is going to be lost to me now. The really sad thing is that there is a real and viable alternative route along the edge of the bogs where there are few houses and farms."
She said she and her husband have been building up the farm, where the rare Greater Butterfly orchid grows, since 1986. It is also the home for some rare and threatened breeds of animals.
"If it goes ahead we will be forced to move and all this will be lost," said Louise, who complained of lack of consultation during the planning stage.
"It is so hard to find peace and quiet any more and this has come as a terrible blow to us," she said.