Dublin City Council has apparently averted legal action over its draft heavy goods vehicle (HGV) management strategy by agreeing that trucks will be able to travel toll-free across the East Link bridge after the port tunnel opens.
The proposal was made by the council's new director of traffic, Michael Phillips, at a meeting yesterday afternoon with a delegation from the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), which had been protesting against the continued imposition of tolls.
"They've come out of their dogma box and got into reality," according to IRHA vice-president Jimmy Quinn. He told The Irish Times that the proposal was expected to be formally agreed next week by National Toll Roads (NTR) and the Dublin Port Company.
Both the council and the port company have stakes in East Link, which is operated by NTR. At present, trucks using the bridge must pay a toll of €4.80 in each direction and it was envisaged that this would continue to be imposed after they are banned from city-centre streets.
Marine Terminals Ltd, the biggest container company operating in the south port, was considering a challenge to the ban, claiming it would be put at a competitive disadvantage. Ibec, the business and employers group, had also sought legal advice on the issue.
Mr Quinn estimated that up to 1,000 trucks a day would benefit from a decision to lift the East Link tolls. Asked if the concession was likely to avert legal action against implementation of the draft HGV management strategy, he said: "I would imagine it would cancel that."
Describing the move as "a huge step in the right direction", Mr Quinn said the council's officials were "trying to steer a middle course between the haulage industry, on the one hand, and those councillors who favour a utopia unheard of anywhere else in the world".
He said the proposed truck ban in the inner city from 7am to 7pm needed to be "micro-managed" if it is to work - particularly the details of a licensing regime for trucks that had business in the city centre, such as those delivering goods to major retail outlets.
"We're happy to confirm that we are committed to making Dublin a city for people rather than a city for trucks," Mr Quinn said. "If we succeed in putting 9,000 vehicles a day into the port tunnel, leaving only 900 to do business in the city, that's a win-win situation for everybody."
