DUBLIN Corporation is to establish consultative committees with residents' groups in the Marino and Santry areas to allay fears over the £130 million port tunnel project.
This was announced at a special joint meeting of the City Council's planning and general purposes committees yesterday, at which councillors could pose detailed questions to the engineers involved. Only 13 of the 52 members of the council were at the meeting even though the port tunnel is the corporation's largest ever civil engineering project. Absent were two of its more vocal critics, Mr Ivor Callely TD (FF) and Mr Sean Haughey TD, Mr Tommy Broughan TD (Labour), who chaired the meeting, and Mr Noel Ahern TD (FF) both said it was "regrettable" that some of those who objected to elements of the scheme "didn't bother to come along". Another councillor, Mr Ben Briscoe TD (FF), left after 15 minutes.
Residents of Marino and Santry - those most affected by the port tunnel picketed City Hall. They wanted to know if the engineers who designed the tunnel would like to live near one of the portals in Whitehall or to have a tunnel under their homes.
Mr Jim Fenwick, the corporation's chief engineer, said he would have "no problem" with this given the assurance that all houses would be surveyed in advance to monitor any changes. However, he agreed a major effort was needed to allay the fears of people.
Mr Broughan said when the tunnel was finished, traffic would be passing under 280 houses in Marino at a level equivalent to the height of City Hall. However, he was assured there would be no perceptible noise or vibrations.
The engineers conceded that the drilling and blasting of the tunnel would be "very strongly perceptible" to those living above it for four weeks. However, they did not see this causing structural or even cosmetic damage.
Cllr Derek McDowell (Labour) queried the use of the New Austrian Tunnelling Method, saying" a recent report by Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on its record of collapses was "quite disquieting". But he was assured that the HSE's findings were being taken on board.
He described the port tunnel consultation process so far as "a dialogue of the deaf". People did not believe the assurances they were being given by the engineers.
Cllr Ita Greene (FF), a member of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, said she realised the tunnel was essential to improve access to the port. "But we are not going to advance this project unless we address people's concerns and take them seriously."
Dealing with objections to locating the tunnel portals just north of Whitehall, Mr Peter Langford, of consultant engineers, Ove Arup and Partners, said it would cost an extra £30 million to relocate the interchange further north for only a marginal environmental benefit.
He added that this section of the Swords Road, where it links up with the Mt airport motorway, would be reduced to a single lane in each direction for 12 months while the tunnel was under construction. This would cause significant traffic disruption.
The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said the corporation and its consultants were "trying to do as much as we can to establish trust" with locals before formal consultations started in October.
