Residents in north Dublin opposed to the planned port tunnel say they want an independent assessment of the health and safety effects of the tunnel on local communities. This follows a half a million pound fine imposed yesterday on engineering consultants Geoconsult, arising from the collapse of a similar tunnel at Heathrow airport in 1994.
Geoconsult are also involved in the design of the Dublin Port Tunnel and are planning to use the same "New Austrian Tunnelling Method" as was used at Heathrow. Today a spokesman for the Combined Residents Association against the Port tunnel said they have maintained all along that the method is unsafe.
Tom Dowling said that one month prior to the collapse of the Heathrow tunnel, another tunnel, being constructed by Geoconsult in Munich, collapsed, leading to the deaths of two people. Yesterday, a court in London described the Heathrow collapse as one of the worst civil engineering disasters in the UK in the last 25 years.
