A Dublin Labour TD, Mr Derek McDowell, has called for a fundamental re-evaluation of the proposed Dublin Port Access Tunnel project in the light of doubts raised about the construction method which is to be used.
The proposed method is the "New Austrian Tunnelling Method", which has been criticised by the British Health and Safety Executive in a report following the Heathrow Tunnel collapse. It involves spraying concrete on excavated tunnel surfaces to form a rigid structure.
Mr McDowell said that this method had been connected with 39 tunnel collapses worldwide. He called on Dublin Corporation to halt all work on the project until the implications of the HSE report were considered in full.
