Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said a European Court judgment on heavy lorries had "no relevance" to Ireland in relation to the possible banning of so-called super-trucks.
While he indicated that there had been no decision by the Government on banning lorries above 4.5 metres high, Mr Ahern has previously said he favoured a ban on such lorries.
The clearance height of lorries in Dublin Port Tunnel has been set at 4.65 metres, a feature which has angered the Dublin Port Transport Users Group which had argued for a clearance of 4.9 metres.
As The Irish Times reported yesterday, the European Court last week overturned a local government regulation in Austria which banned lorries of over 7.5 tonnes from a 46km stretch of dual carriageway. The European Court ruled the ban was an infringement of the free movement of goods.
But speaking yesterday, Mr Ahern said the European Court judgment related to weight rather than height, and that Irish authorities still had the right to ban trucks over a certain height.
He said the super-trucks, which are over four metres high, comprised only a small fraction of trucks using port facilities.
Most tunnels and bridges in Europe were four metres high, while the Port Tunnel was 4.65 metres. He added that "1.7 per cent of trucks coming into Dublin Port are over four metres so there isn't a problem".
"It's a wrong interpretation here," he said. "There is a problem here for 1.7 per cent of the total trucks coming through Dublin Port, the Minister is looking to see is there any argument about those. But really a lot of these issues are about weight."
He said the number of trucks involved was "a very small amount" and we should discourage them". His comments came as the Labour Party called on the Government to proceed with the banning of super-trucks.
Labour's transport spokeswoman Róisín Shortall said the European court judgment was "far more limited and conditional than supporters of super-trucks were suggesting".
The super-truck issue has been complicated by a decision of Dublin City Council to ban trucks of five or more axles.
The council said yesterday it plans to go ahead with a 12-hour daytime ban on heavy goods vehicles in the city centre, despite the European Court striking down a ban on large lorries in Austria.
Brendan O'Brien, of the Office of the Director of Traffic, said city officials had discussed the Austrian judgment and were seeking more information.
He said the council did "not see that it is comparable. The Austrian ban was a very low weight limit which was permanent. "What we propose is a time limit . . . we are not excluding access to the market."
But the Irish Road Haulage Association welcomed the Austrian decision and called for an early meeting with the Department of Transport to discuss the issue.