Plans have been lodged for a €200m expansion of Dublin Port.

The development would see a 10km channel of River Liffey made deeper to allow for cruise ships and larger freight vessels to dock in the port. More than 3kms of berths would be built.

Under the plans, 10 hectares of land on Bull Island would be given to the city.

If approved, the project could be completed by 2019. It would create 200 construction jobs and passengers numbers would treble to 320,000 a year.

CEO of the Dublin Port Company, Eamon O'Reilly said: "The business has grown from nothing up to 100 ships.

"We're now talking about building deep quay walls right up to East Link bridge where the cruise ships would berth.

"The cruise ships are only there for a couple of months in the year so in the winter months, there will be car importers. You can expect to see big freight ships up at the East Link bridge in the winter months."