If you click on the NRA's website and look up road schemes under construction
http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity...blinPortTunnel
and follow the link to the corpo's website
http://www.dublincity.ie/living_in_t...ort_tunnel.asp
the last update states that the tunnel should be open in late autumn 2005.
It is late, by anyone's standards. the above ground road works are definitely late. I cannot see how the tunnel works would have delayed the above ground works north of th eportals or south of the Shantalla bridge. Also they've put up a sign gantry, took it down cos it was too small, are in the process of putting a bigger one up.
On the safety issue: a totally new 21st century system should be safer by design than the existing rail system that has legacy waivers and issues. two trams crashed into each other on an onstreet section of the line at stephens green. yes trains have crashed in the past, not in recent times though.
If you want competing operators on the same infrastructure, You'll need regulation to organise this. particularily on loss making routes. I'm saying Ireland's record on regulators is poor. As others have said Ireland is too small for this really.