Dublin City Council's plans to impose a 12-hour ban on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) from the city centre are "full of holes", the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) annual conference in Sligo heard yesterday
IRHA vice-president Jimmy Quinn said the association would mount a legal challenge to the ban on lorries using the overtaking lane of motorways.
Delegates also expressed anger at the continued rise in fuel prices and the imposition of motorway tolls.
According to Mr Quinn, Dublin City Council's strategy was "full of holes" and had "succeeded in uniting Dublin port, the hauliers and Ibec" in outright opposition to the ban.
Mr Quinn told The Irish Times that hauliers had put forward a different system which would restrict access to the city centre to just those vehicles that needed it. All others would use a different route.
He said it was manifestly unfair that two lorries leaving Dublin port in the morning should be treated differently.
"On one hand, a four-axel lorry heading for Galway may drive straight through the city, while a six-axel lorry loaded with sandwiches for Marks and Spencer must wait in the port for up to 12 hours."
Mr Quinn also said the time restrictions on the ban could potentially open up a "Brands Hatch" along the quays as drivers speeded to get in or out of the cordon area.
A further difficulty was in relation to accessing the south port from the north docks, which may see lorries being forced to take a route through the Dublin port Tunnel and the M50.
There would be no realistic toll-free route, he insisted.
Mr Quinn maintained hauliers were told by the former junior minister for transport Ivor Callely that the tolls on the East Link bridge would be lifted and it would be a designated route to the south port.
He said, however, the IRHA had since learned the bridge-owners knew nothing of the plan.
Mr Quinn called for the scrapping of the ban and its replacement with a permit system enabling city-centre deliveries.
The hauliers also said it was ludicrous that they were allowed to overtake slow-moving tractors on regional roads and dual carriage ways but not on motorways.