Digging of Dublin Port Tunnel is completed

Two years after the digging began in a blaze of publicity, the media glare returned to a large hole in north Dublin yesterday, and this time there were definite signs of a tunnel at the end of the light.

Commuters and pedestrians will have to wait another year and a half for their promised deliverance from trucks, but the digging phase of the project is over.

Having covered the 4.5 kilometre distance at an average of nine metres a day - only slightly slower than Dublin's rush-hour traffic - the Port Tunnel boring machine completed its journey when it pushed the last few inches of rock into the Whitehall "reception pit", in front of the Minister for Transport and invited guests.

It was a dramatic breakthrough, by any standards.

In a Japanese tradition, representatives of the Nishimatsu construction team poured sake and salt on the displaced earth, to sanctify the work.

Moments later, in an Irish tradition, men in green and yellow GAA jerseys began climbing out the front of the tunnelling machine and shouting "Up Donegal".

These were the "miners" - much-travelled underground specialists, including veterans of the Channel Tunnel - who marked the completion of another project by planting their county flag on top of the pile of debris.

The miners won a round of applause from onlookers, which is more than could be said for the Minister. But Mr Brennan still looked a happy man as he celebrated "a bit of history".

The port tunnel was "probably the country's largest ever feat of engineering", he said, and with the exception of increased land costs, it was coming in "largely on budget".

He was also quick to hint that the project would not be getting any bigger, although his formal verdict on the raising of the tunnel's height for super-trucks has yet to be announced.

Promising to "sign off" on the decision early next month, he spoke of "very compelling" arguments that any change in the height would have safety implications. But he would decide the issue in the context of another issue - a limit on the legal height of trucks in Ireland - and the Dublin truck management plan. Other countries had lower size-limits than Ireland, he added, and there had to be a "trade-off" between the needs of commerce and environmental concerns.

Not everyone was as happy as Mr Brennan with yesterday's work. The Marino Development Action Group, whose members live over or close to the path of the new tunnel, was not on the list of invited guests for the event in Whitehall.

"It's typical of them to ignore us," said spokesman Mr Fintan Cassidy, who also accused Dublin City Council and the tunnel contractors of "dragging their heels" on agreed repairs to houses undermined by the work.

The council had acknowledged damage - from cracks in paving to warped door-frames - in 169 houses, he said. But only 15 had been repaired to date, including his.

A former city councillor - he was co-opted to replace TD Mr Finian McGrath prior to the local elections - Mr Cassidy said that he had "made a bit of noise" and forced the council to act.

"But it's not as easy for older people. There's one elderly lady whose roof slates needed repairing, for example. They told her they couldn't do anything about it because they didn't have a ladder."

Work on the tunnel now moves on to the electrical and mechanical fitting stage, with a phased opening to traffic scheduled to begin in late 2005.

But the Donegal miners who cheered as they emerged from the ground yesterday were celebrating unemployment.

After some mopping up, they will now get two weeks' notice and start looking for another tunnelling job - probably overseas.

Mr Eddie O'Brien (28), from Magheroarty, has already worked in England, France and Asia.

He says his county's tradition for digging started "years ago, with hydro-dams in the north of Scotland" and has become a habit. Tunnelling is hard work - 72-hour weeks in high temperatures, noise and dust. But the Donegal crew will probably be getting together for the next job, wherever it is.

It pays "big money", he says candidly. "That's why we follow it, all over the place."