The group lobbying for a change in the height of the Dublin Port Tunnel have been refused access to a draft report examining the issue despite the National Roads Authority and Dublin City Council being given copies.
The chairman of the Transport Umbrella Group (TUG), Mr Jerry Kiersey, today said the Department of Transport refused a copy of the Atkins Report draft for an economic impact study being conducted by Trinity College transport economist Dr Sean Barrett.
Mr Keirsey said he could not say for sure why access had been denied. "But it seems that those that have been opposed to this campaign for the last three years - those that made the original mistake in the height of the Port Tunnel - are continuing their campaign," Mr Kiersey said.
"Our view of the issue at this stage is that they're more concerned about being right rather than doing the right thing," he added.
A Department of Trasnsport spokesman said the draft was not made available because the Minister, Mr Brennan, felt it should only be seen by the those involved in the construction of the tunnel because of its technical nature.
TUG today issued its report which indicated that average economies of €6 million will be lost to the industry each year if the tunnel is not raised by the requisite nine inches to allow "supercube" lorries use it.
Supercubes are around 14 inches taller than conventional Heavy Goods Vehicles but have around 38 per cent greater capacity. They cannot fit through the Port Tunnel as currently planned and will instead use mainly city centre routes after disembarkation.
As a consequence, the TUG-commissioned report says, there will be more accidents, more pollution and more traffic congestion in the city, with supercube throughput at Dublin Port expected to rise by at least 5 per cent per year.
Mr Keirsey said changing the tunnel's height was relatively easy, but warned a decision was needed within a matter of weeks. "We're passing a point of no-return, obviously the longer you wait on a construction phase, the more it is going to cost to achieve that change."
TUG represents Irish Ferries, Stena Line, Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Irish Petroleum Industry Association, Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics, Irish International Freight Association and the Irish Road Haulage Association.