The Irish Times

There is no design flaw in the Dublin Port Tunnel, the project's engineers insisted yesterday, even though it will be too low for some of the 9,000 lorries which use the port each day. The tunnel, the major element of the city council's plan to reduce the number of articulated trucks trundling through Dublin's city centre each day, is designed to fast-track lorries from the M50 to the port. However, members of the Irish Road Haulage Association have said that the tunnel's clearance height of 4.9 metres is too low for some of the more modern rigs. And despite the clearance height, the actual height of vehicles using the tunnel will be further restricted, to 4.65 metres, as in the case of the Jack Lynch Tunnel under the River Lee in Cork. However, Dublin Corporation and the National Roads Authority maintain there has been no design flaw in the tunnel. A spokeswoman said it had always been known that some of the larger lorries would not use the tunnel, and there was no suggestion of a flaw.