The proposed ban on lorries too big to travel through the new Dublin Port Tunnel will fuel inflation and lead to increased pollution and congestion, hauliers have warned.
The Irish Road Haulage Association said 350-500 "supercubes", or "supertrucks", will be affected by the restriction, and double that number of lorries will be required to deliver their cargos if stranded at Dublin Port.
The association, which plans to display a number of the vehicles at an information briefing in Dublin this morning, said they would be able to use the tunnel if its height was increased by just 30 cm, less than a foot.
"This is the critical dimension," said IRHA spokesman Mr Jimmy Quinn. "If the civil servants in charge of this project admitted that they might possibly have made a mistake then we could make progress."
Dublin City Council's decision not to increase the height of the tunnel has been backed by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, who said all lorries importing goods would be obliged to use the new facility, thereby effectively banning supertrucks from the roads.
Mr Quinn said the cost of such a ban would be passed on to the consumer.
He noted it took 18-20 one-tonne vans to deliver the same amount of goods as a maximum-weight articulated lorry.
"The larger trucks are more, not less, efficient. By banning them you will increase traffic and pollution instead of reducing it."
He said the move towards double-decker lorries and other supertrucks was driven by retailers in Britain.
Britain had an operational height limit on bridges and tunnels of 4.99 metres, 0.09m higher than the Dublin Port Tunnel.
