Offal spillage closes Cork’s South Ring

An offal spillage forced the closure of one of the county’s busiest roads and triggered traffic chaos last night.

A lorry carrying offal shed its load at the end of evening rush hour, just before 7pm, as it travelled eastbound on Cork's South Ring Road towards the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

While the spillage occurred over a relatively short stretch of road near the Douglas exit, unwitting motorists drove over the material, which included animal blood and guts, spreading it over a wider area.

Gardai described driving conditions in the area as extremely hazardous.

They closed the section of road between the Kinsale Road roundabout and the Douglas exit and introduced diversions.

Eastbound motorists were diverted off the South Ring Road at the Kinsale Road roundabout and into the city centre via the South Link Road.

The extra traffic in the city, and the closure of Clontarf Bridge, resulted in long delays citywide.

An environmental cleaning crew was drafted it to clean the material off the road, which remained closed for several hours.

Gardai tracked down the driver of the lorry on the Dublin side of the Jack Lynch Tunnel and spoke to him about the incident.