The height of Dublin's port tunnel will not be raised, the Minsiter for Transport said today. The decision has met with sharp criticism from the road haulage industry.
Mr Cullen said he took the decision following consultation and examination of three reports on the mattter.
Mr Cullen said the decision was based "primarily on safety grounds" but the cost and delays in opening the tunnel "were also factors". He put the potential extra cost at between €33 million and €65 million.
The Minister said the options for increasing the height of the tunnel had been considered by the National Roads Authority (NRA), NMI Consortium, independent consultants, Atkins and Dublin City Council. The matter was also discussed at Cabinet.
Mr Cullen added that the Department of Transport would shortly be publishing proposals to impose a maximum height for vehicles in the State, limiting the use of higher trucks. Such restrictions would ban, so called "supercube trucks". The standard height for truck trailers sold in Ireland is 3.85 metres. "Supercube" trucks generally begin at about 4.8 metres and can reach up to 4.95 metres. The current height of the tunnel is 4.65 metres.
The Irish Road Haulage Association said the decision effectively banned the use of "supercubes" and "robs Irish industry of a competitive edge." IRHA president, Mr Eamonn Morrissey, warned against any nation-wide ban on the larger trucks "to cover up the mistakes made in the planning of one of the largest infrastructural projects in the history of the state."
"This is a red letter day for the Irish road transport industry," said Mr Morrissey. "For such a vital industry, despite all of our protests, we were ignored and now industry will have to carry the cost of increased transport costs while consumers will see a knock on effect of more expensive products."
High cube trucks, can carry twice the load of a normal vehicle, the IRHA contends, leading to less trucks on the road network and reduced transport costs.
"This is a backward step, economically and environmentally," Mr Morrissey added. "We have already seen the decision taken by the Government in the late 1980s not to build a three lane M50 showed a tremendous lack of foresight and sadly that capacity not to see beyond the next election is still prevalent in the 21st century."
The Progressive Democrats's transport spokesman, Senator Tom Morrissey, criticised the decision of his Government colleague, describing it as "anti-competitive". Mr Morrissey said it will lead to increased costs for Irish businesses, which will ultimately lead to increased costs for Irish consumers.
"At a time of growing anxiety about our competitiveness and the cost of goods in Ireland, the decision not to raise the height of the Port Tunnel is deeply regrettable.
"The haulage industry will not be the only sector adversely affected by this decision. Any business in Ireland that depends on imports or exports will be hit. Consumers will ultimately be affected."
Labour's transport spokeswoman, Ms Roisin Shorthall, welcomed "the fact that the government has eventually made a final decision".
"It is unfortunate that it has taken the government so long to finalise this matter, but I do believe that the decision announced today is the correct one.
"Any decision to start altering the height of the tunnel at this stage would have meant significant extra costs as well as causing further traffic disruption and additional inconvenience to those living along the route, while any benefit in terms of the additional trucks that could be accommodated would have been quite insignificant."
