Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has said he would have "no problem" with the Dublin Port Tunnel being named in honour of Charles Haughey.
Two Fianna Fáil councillors, Tom Brabazon of Dublin City Council and Michael Kennedy of Fingal County Council, have called for the tunnel to be named the Charles Haughey Tunnel when it opens this year.
Mr Cullen said it was common, both in Ireland and internationally, to name major infrastructural projects after national leaders. "Many big projects, across the world as well as in Ireland, are named after people. I would have no problem with the tunnel being named after Mr Haughey."
However, Mr Cullen said the naming of the tunnel was a matter for Dublin City Council.
Mr Brabazon said he would back any motion put before councillors to name the tunnel after Mr Haughey, although he was not optimistic councillors outside his party would support it.
However, Dublin City Council said yesterday that councillors do not have the right to decide on a name for the tunnel.
A spokeswoman for the port tunnel project said it was standard practice on the European road network to name tunnels after the regions they were in, and at present there were no plans to change the name of the tunnel.
She said while the naming of bridges in Dublin was a matter for city councillors, the naming of any tunnels in the city was a matter for the executive management of Dublin City Council.
However she added that the council management would consider any suggestions made through resolution by councillors.
A spokeswoman for Fingal County Council said the local authority had "absolutely no involvement" in the naming of the tunnel because it was outside its local authority area.