Gridlock in Dublin as roof section falls on to street

A ROOF tile which blew off a state-of-the-art science building on Pearse Street, Dublin, and hit a parked car brought traffic gridlock to central Dublin yesterday.

High winds, which gusted at 120km/h, caused the large roof tile to blow off the €100 million Naughton Institute, which was opened by the Taoiseach only last month.

Workmen were carrying out maintenance work when the tile, which was more than a metre long, fell off the roof. It smashed the rear window of the car.

Gardaí declared the building as "dangerous" and shut off Pearse Street from Westland Row to Tara Street for more than two hours. The diversions caused delays on the whole of the south city area. "Traffic was at a crawl, you couldn't go anywhere," a spokesman for the AA said.

Pearse Street was eventually reopened at about 4.20pm, but traffic jams continued long into the rush hour, causing tailbacks from East Wall to Harold's Cross Bridge and especially along the canal.

The Naughton Institute has won praise for its futuristic design. It was named after industrialist Martin Naughton, the founder of Glen Dimplex, who donated €5 million to it.

The institute includes Ireland's first purpose-built nanoscience research institute, the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (Crann) and the world's first Science Gallery.

The Science Gallery has been described by Trinity provost John Hegarty as "a flagship project and a new manifestation of the role of the university in the 21st century".

The driver of an articulated truck sufferd minor injuries when his vehicle was blown off the road by a freak 100km/h gust of wind yesterday. The 13-metre truck crashed just south of Ballintra on the main Ballyshannon-Donegal town road. The driver was helped from the mangled cab by a passing motorist. An HSE West spokesperson later said the driver was "stable" in Letterkenny General Hospital with "minor injuries".