City centre street collapses into cellar

A WAR of words erupted between state agencies last night after part of a city centre street where major Luas works are taking place collapsed into the cellar of an adjacent building.

A Dublin Bus driver raised the alarm at lunchtime yesterday after becoming concerned about a pothole on Harcourt Street, which he felt was in danger of caving in. He refused to drive over the then 18-inch-wide hole until Luas workers laying tram tracks on the street placed steel sheeting across it.

Dublin City Council engineers were called in to examine the problem, and in the mid-afternoon it was decided to close off the road completely. Luas workers then pulled away the broken road surface and discovered a gaping hole underneath, which exposed a disused cellar attached to one of the adjacent 18th century buildings.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), which is overseeing the Luas works, said the damage was not their responsibility as it was not on the side where they were working, and they only helped out because they had the equipment and manpower to do so.

RPA chief executive Frank Allen blamed construction works carried out on the cellar decades ago, saying supporting stonework had been removed underneath where the hole appeared.

But Dublin City Council, which is investigating the incident, pointed the finger firmly at the RPA, saying the diversion of all traffic along one narrow lane to accommodate the Luas works had placed considerable extra weight and pressure on the road.

“It’s difficult to see how it would be unrelated to Luas works,” a spokeswoman said.

The incident sparked anger among traders on the street, who have put up with traffic chaos, diversions and non-stop noise for almost a year.

Frank Dempsey, chief executive of The Village Quarter, the area’s trade and community organisation, said he feared there could be other weak spots on the road which might cave in.

“We were told they had done survey after survey before they started this work, so they should know every brick on the street by now. If that’s the case, why didn’t they know the condition of the road there?” he asked.

John Paul Duignan of Voicevault, a company occupying the basement and several floors of the building immediately beside the hole, was shocked when he emerged in the late afternoon to see the extent of the damage and find the entrance to the premises blocked off by safety barriers.

“I had no idea. We’re so used to the noise here. I didn’t go out for lunch and nobody came in to tell us anything was up,” he said.

The RPA said it expected to have the hole concreted in and the road open to traffic again on Friday.

A less optimistic Dublin Bus said diversions in place along Hatch Street would probably continue until after the bank holiday.