FG: Tunnel unsafe when opened in 2006

FINE Gael last night claimed the Dublin Port Tunnel had been unsafe when opened after the party obtained a previously unreleased report highlighting problems within the facility.

The Critical Systems Review was prepared for the tunnel’s operator in October 2007, 10 months after it had been officially opened.

Written by systems engineer Martin Kelly, the report pointed to a number of problems in the tunnel.

In relation to heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the report said: “Critical electric and electrical equipment is overheating in most equipment rooms. When this type of equipment is overheated it performs erratically or fails completely.”

In relation to the tunnel’s communications network, it said: “The installed network has not been designed and configured for the safety critical requirements of the Dublin Port Tunnel… the installed devices are designed for commercial, not industrial applications, ie, they are not as robust and reliable as they should be.”

In relation to the tunnel’s SCADA electronic safety system, the report said individual units within the system were “each controlling and monitoring too many items of equipment”.

Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd, who obtained the report after a year-long battle with the National Roads Authority (NRA), said the document proved the tunnel was unsafe when opened in December 2006.

“There are 28 different faults listed in this report on the tunnel’s operational system. The list confirms that the heating and ventilation systems were inadequate to secure the operational safety of essential electrical equipment and that dust damage also compromised the same equipment. This equipment was, and is, integral to the safety systems in the tunnel,” Mr O’Dowd said.

“The communications network in the tunnel was explicitly not designed and configured for the safety requirement of the tunnel… In a €750m tunnel, they bought the cheapest computer system available that was simply not up to the task.”

Mr O’Dowd called on the NRA to explain who took the ultimate decision to open the tunnel to the public in 2006. He also called on the NRA to clarify if the problems identified in the report had been rectified.

In a statement last night, the NRA said it had “openly acknowledged” that problems existed with the SCADA system at an Oireachtas committee hearing last year.

“The NRA also advised the committee what was being done to ensure safe operation of the tunnel while deficiencies were being addressed,” the statement added.