Following a review by the Dublin City Council, the Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Roads Authority of the current Dublin Port Tunnel escorting arrangements it has been agreed that it is safe and appropriate to allow all petrol tankers to travel through the Tunnel unescorted.

Fred Barry, CEO of  NRA stated, “I would like to thank the Dublin Fire Brigade for the high quality of service they provided over the past year and for the work they have done with the NRA in maintaining the continued safe operation of the Dublin Port Tunnel.”    

It has been concluded, that the daily presence of the Fire Brigade personnel over the past months and the standard of equipment installed within the Tunnel, have combined to generate both a strong level of awareness amongst HGV drivers and drivers in general so that  the practice of escorting tanker trucks was no longer required.

The Dublin Fire Brigade and Dublin City Council procured specialist consulting engineers, who are experts on fire tunnel incidents, to conduct an independent review and they concluded that while escorting (UN 1203) tankers reduces the overall dangerous goods risk, it should be recognised that this has a relatively minor impact on the overall risk.

A dedicated fire brigade unit will remain in place on a fulltime 24 hour basis to deal directly with any significant incident requiring their assistance.

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