The Dublin Port Tunnel will cost the city council more than €1 million in repairs to private property through damage caused during construction, according to an independent loss adjuster.
Since tunnel construction began, Dublin City Council has received more than 1,500 complaints, relating to noise, vibrations caused by the digging, out-of-hours working, dust and vermin.
In information obtained by RTÉ News under the Freedom of Information Act, more than 200 incidents of property damage were found, with an estimated cost of about €1.1 million to the local authority. Most complaints related to minor cracks and other damage caused to private homes along the route of the tunnel.
More than 41 per cent of the complaints related to the noise caused by the tunnel's construction. Other complaints of damage to property included jammed doors, roof damage and broken glazing.
Residents are concerned the council has not done enough to ensure that this matter is dealt with as quickly as it should be.
"This has been going on since March 2003," said Fintan Cassidy of the Marino Development Action Group. "Dublin City Council has admitted that damage has been done and it has been very slow to deal with the problem.
"They don't have enough surveyors. They don't have enough contractors to do the necessary repairs and they seem to be delaying the whole thing," Mr Cassidy added. "The council is dragging its heels and we're fed up with the whole thing at this stage."
The council has denied unnecessary delay or that it is dragging its heels. Of the 212 complaints it received, 166 had received visits from an independent loss adjuster and in 79 cases, the work had been completed to everyone's satisfaction, said a council spokeswoman.
Of the remainder, many residents chose not to have any work done until the boring machine had completed its work.
That finished almost a year ago and now, the council wanted to get the matter sorted "as quickly as possible".
"To date the council has paid out €380,000 and an independent loss adjustor has given us a provisional, worst-case scenario figure of €1.094 million to complete the work," said the spokeswoman.
"Part of the problem is one of getting access to the houses in order to carry out the work."