Tara protester Squeak says she feared for her life
Protester Lisa Feeney in Dublin yesterday
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THE WOMAN who abandoned a tunnel protest against the construction of the M3 at the weekend has admitted she "feared for her life" at one stage.
Speaking for the first time since her ordeal, Lisa 'Squeak' Feeney (26) said she lost her nerve when she felt movement at the top of her makeshift bunker.
She said she feared earth would tumble down the shaft of the tunnel when she heard a commotion overhead.
Lisa, from Kerry, was holed up in the subterranean hideaway, which she built with other eco-warriors, for three days before surfacing last Saturday night.
The Dublin-based bicycle courier was eventually persuaded to leave the tunnel near the slopes of the historic Rath Lugh fort following emotional pleas by her father.
As a result of her action, she secured agreement from the National Roads Authority (NRA) that construction work at the site will be postponed until April 17.
Lisa occupied the tunnel in protest at the construction of the motorway, which she claims poses a risk to the ancient monuments which dot its route.
Rath Lugh Direct Action has demanded that the route be moved from Rath Lugh, claiming it contravenes a preservation order on the site.
Lisa's protest tunnel at Rath Lugh was over two miles to the north-east of the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. "I was never worried for my life and felt fully confident until I feared there was movement near the entrance to the tunnel," she said.
She went into the tunnel equipped with a Padraig Pearse book and supplies of dried food to last two months.
"It was a challenge and I had candles and a head torch," she said. "There was 15 metres of earth above me. I couldn't stand up in the chamber but I could stand up in the shaft.
"I didn't feel like I was being buried alive. I was down there a couple of times before and was well used to it."
She said the turning point in her decision to abandon her dangerous protest came when her father arrived.
"My poor dad," she said. "The officials at the site worried him silly. They really did.
"They kept making sensational remarks to make him worry, like telling him I was going to die."
Ms Feeney plans to rejoin protesters this morning.
- Anne-Marie Walsh
