The opening of the Jack Lynch Tunnel yesterday represented a proud day for the people of Cork and a very significant addition to this State's infrastructure. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has pointed to the very practical benefits of the tunnel; by easing traffic congestion, it will help to give the heart of the city back to its people. But it will also, as he remarked, serve a wider economic objective. By boosting competitiveness, it should help to draw more inward investment into the city and the entire region.
The scale of what is involved in the construction of the tunnel is staggering. As the biggest infrastructural project undertaken by a local authority in the State, it represents a major engineering feat. And its operation involves the most advanced mechanical, electrical and computer control systems. Remarkably, the tunnel does not go under the bed of the River Lee but rests on it. Its construction involved the use of fabricated concrete troughs which were floated out across the estuary and submerged.
In years to come the opening of the tunnel may come to symbolise a different era when the EU was willing to underwrite, to a very significant degree, huge infrastructural projects in this State. The entire tunnel project, which includes 1.8km in approach roads, has cost £105 million but 85 per cent of this is grant-aided by the EU Cohesion Fund. Given the reduction in the Republic's allocation of structural funding, and our continuing economic progress, it seems unlikely that EU support on this scale will be available for other major infrastructural projects including the planned Dublin Port Tunnel. The challenge for Government, in developing the next national development plan, is to forge the kind of public/private partnerships that can help to build up the creaking national infrastructure and build projects similar in scale and vision to the Jack Lynch Tunnel.
In truth, it has taken a long time to bring the vision of a tunnel providing a Lee crossing to reality. It is 21 years since the Cork Land Use and Transportation Study first tabled the proposal and eighteen years since a feasibility study endorsed the proposal. Since then, and despite the chronic need to relieve traffic congestion, there have been two public inquiries and an environmental impact assessment. At a time when this State may be entering a period of unparalleled infrastructural development, questions might be asked as to why these large-scale, much-needed projects trundle along at such a slow pace.