Tunnel trap for drivers who speed is scrapped

A PLANNED new speed detection system to help save lives in Dublin's Port Tunnel has been shot down by transport chiefs.
Drivers breaking the limits on the €751m motorway are likely to continue to go unpunished following the move.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) had sought to install the equipment to catch dangerous motorists.
But the Department of Transport withheld approval for the scheme on the basis that enforcement of the limits is a matter for the gardai.
It is understood that, while gardai mount speed-checks in the areas outside the tunnel, they do not generally do so within the underpass.
An NRA source told the Herald that the organisation has been "concerned about speeding" in the tunnel.
"We would speak to the gardai but they would be looking at the areas outside, which they have been doing," the source said.
It is an operational matter for the gardai where they chose to stage speed checks.
The source said the NRA wants the detection to be carried out in the tunnel but "it is the garda's call".
While surveillance and safety cameras have been installed, they are not of a sufficient quality for use as evidence in speeding prosecutions.
Tenders for a speed detection and control system in the tunnel were advertised in the European Journal last March and the final tender deadline was set for August.
However, the NRA -- which was to finance the new system -- confirmed the process has now been abandoned.
Issues surrounding driver behaviour in the tunnel have been highlighted on a number of occasions.
In 2008, a motorist was charged in connection with an incident in which a car went through the underpass the wrong way.

Independents will be muscular new force in Dail with 15pc vote

INDEPENDENT politicians will be a force to be reckoned with in the 31st Dail should the findings of the Sunday Independent/MillwardBrown Lansdowne national opinion poll be borne out on polling day.
According to its findings, 15 per cent of the 1,022 adults surveyed say they will give their vote to an independent or other candidate at the upcoming election.
That figure is significant on several fronts. Primarily, however, it represents a dramatic movement in support from Fianna Fail, and more than a doubling of the 7 per cent who say they voted for an independent candidate at the 2007 General Election.
A closer examination of our poll findings further reveals that 18 per cent of those who voted for Fianna Fail at the last election intend to vote for an independent candidate this time around.
Interestingly, the figure is just 1 per cent shy of the 19 per cent of Fianna Fail supporters who say they will switch their allegiance to the Labour Party on polling day.
Not that Labour is about to be swept effortlessly into government by a 'Gilmore gale' courtesy of disgruntled Fianna Fail supporters. And once more, it's all to do with the groundswell of support for the independents.
According to the results of the Sunday Independent's opinion poll, a not insignificant 7 per cent of those who voted for the Labour Party in 2007 say they will give their support to an independent or other candidate on this occasion.
That support for the independents is coming from both sides of the Dail divide is hardly surprising, given the wide variety of political ideologies being espoused by the independents and other candidates.
From the pro-enterprise and anti-cronyism platform of the Sunday Independent's own business editor, senator Shane Ross, to the anti-capitalist mantra espoused by Richard Boyd Barrett of the United Left Alliance, there already appears to be something for everyone looking for an alternative to the established political parties as the election looms.

Big plates tempt diners to Ikea

IT'S the modern equivalent of the Penny Dinner -- and at €2 for a basic lunch, it has one restaurant bursting at the seams.
Cheap lunches and full Irish breakfasts for €1.95 are filling the 550-seat restaurant at Ikea in the Dublin suburb of Ballymun from morning to night.
While trendy restaurants are closing every day, the Swedish bistro in the huge furniture store is cleaning up.
According to staff members, many of the regular clientele who travel to Ikea have no intention of buying furniture -- instead they've come for the bargain basement meals.
At €2.25 a pop, the Ikea euro breakfast meal is enormous and consists of eight different servings of food.
"I have the bus pass and I get the Ikea bus from Phibsboro several days a week," says retired gas fitter Dan Hoey. "They do a great breakfast for next to nothing, and there's always a great buzz about the place. There are a good few regular faces in the restaurant every day, and at this stage I'd know most of them."
Another regular patron is arts graduate Margaret Dillon who lives in Drumcondra.
"The prices are fab and you can get as much coffee as you like for free," she says. "It's actually cheaper than cooking at home, not to mention cleaning up afterwards. I don't know how they make a profit because the restaurant employs a huge staff as well," says Margaret.