A 200-year-old section of quay wall beside Ringsend bridge, Dublin, and which had been earmarked for reconstruction, collapsed into the river Dodder yesterday. Traffic was diverted for several hours.
Residents and local politicians said they had been warning Dublin City Council for two years that the wall was unstable.
The collapse of around 40 metres of the wing wall on Fitzwilliam Quay is understood to have happened early yesterday morning following high tide on the river. The council was notified at about 9am and the bridge was closed until shortly before noon.
Gerard O’Connell of the council’s flood defence unit, who was on-site in Ringsend yesterday, said major reconstruction work of this section of the quay wall had been planned.
“There were plans in place, but these will obviously now have to be fast-tracked. It’s a tricky section because there are underground services which have to be relocated.”
While further assessment would be needed, Mr O’Connell estimated that the cost of the reconstruction work would be in the region of €250,000. He said there was no risk to the bridge, which is one of the major traffic arteries for the southeast of the city, arising from the collapse of the wall, and city engineers had declared it safe for traffic.
Local Labour councillor and general election candidate Kevin Humphreys said he alerted the council to structural problems surrounding the wall more than two years ago.
“A new footpath had been put in running up to the wall and it started to move with gaps appearing in the pavement and between the pavement and the wall.”
The pavement was fenced off for six to seven months while remedial work was undertaken, but the cracks began to appear again last year, Mr Humphreys said.
“I was particularly concerned about the pavement and the wall during the bad weather. It’s just very fortunate that this collapse happened in the middle of the night and there were no injuries or even fatalities.”
Local Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews said the council must immediately begin a city-wide structural assessment of bridges and surrounding footpaths .
“It is incredibly lucky that no-one was hurt or worse. Following the unprecedented bad weather before Christmas, many roads and bridges could possibly be weakened due to the stress these structures have been placed under.”
Local resident and chairman of the Ringsend, Sandymount and Irishtown Environmental Group Damien Cassidy said the council should considering closing the bridge until a more comprehensive engineering assessment could be carried out.
“The decision to reopen the bridge was made too quickly. It needs to be properly assessed so we don’t end up with another Malahide estuary disaster on our hands.”
