The estimated costs, tender price and predicted completion date for the Dublin Port tunnel together with the subsidence issues at Fairview are matters for the National Roads Authority and Dublin City Council. However, I am informed by the NRA that the Dublin Transportation Initiative in its final report, dated 1994, identified a tunnel from Whitehall to Dublin Port as the preferred option for resolving Dublin Port access problems. The estimated cost of this proposal, which was a single bore tunnel only, was €132 million. The Dublin Port tunnel developed from this proposal. However, the current tunnel is very different from that originally set out in the DTI strategy. It is, for example, a twin bore instead of a single bore, it extends to Santry instead of Whitehall, and is much deeper where it passes under houses.
The original tender price for construction was €449 million in June 2000. Together with land and property compensation, supervision costs and other miscellaneous costs, the current estimated all-in cost of the current project is €625 million. The estimated completion date is early 2005.
The National Roads Authority has overall responsibility for the planning and supervision of works for the construction and maintenance of national roads. In particular, it supervises the award of major road contracts by individual road authorities against relevant public procurement criteria including economic advantage to the public sector. In this context, all major road projects, including the port tunnel project, are subject to cost-benefit analysis and to assessment and evaluation at relevant stages, in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines on the appraisal and management of capital projects. The port tunnel project at all stages satisfied these requirements.
As regards the subsidence issues referred to by the Deputy, on Monday 3 March, Iarnród Éireann instructed the port tunnel contractors to cease all tunnelling works under the railway at Fairview, following two incidents which occurred during the construction of temporary supports at the site. These temporary supports are being constructed beneath the railway line to enable permanent works to follow with the construction of the tunnel itself.
It is important to note that Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that the two incidents, on 23 February and 1 March, did not pose a danger to railway operations. The incidents related to the failure of a supporting beam in a pilot tunnel and also to the slippage of about five cubic metres of material in a header tunnel. These incidents are being investigated by the contractors, Dublin City Council, Iarnród Éireann and their advisers.