>> WHAT'S THE STORY?

An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will of"cially open the Dublin Port Tunnel, the longest urban motorway tunnel in Europe, on Wednesday.

The 750m tunnel is 4.5km long and was opened to the public for the "rst time , , for one day only , , last Sunday, when 10,000 athletes joined in a charity fun run through it.

>> WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?

"Ho, Ho, Ho" . . . what Santa Claus is expected to say when he jumps out of his portable grotto on the back of a lorry to meet Bertie Ahern before heading off in the "rst truck through the tunnel next week.

"The imminent diversion of 6,000 vehicles to the M50 when the port tunnel opens, leading to predictable chaos on the M50 and surrounding outer feeder roads, requires an emergency response involving the immediate lifting of the toll barriers. If the government is unwilling to do this, it can at least pay the tolls for commuters until the barriers go in 2008, the annual estimate for which is dwarfed by the stamp duty paid in areas serviced by the toll bridge" . . . Catherine Murphy TD

>> WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

From Wednesday on, up to 9,000 trucks are expected to use the tunnel, which will alleviate some of Dublin's traf"c chaos. Trucks can enter the tunnel at Dublin port and drive the 4.5km to the exit at Santry on the northside of Dublin, or vice versa. However, at a cost of 12 for cars during peak hours, it is not expected that too many of the capital's car drivers will take the plunge under the Liffey.

Tomb waders The shortest day of the year is here already and at 8.58am on Thursday, 21 December, 50 lucky people will gather in Newgrange to watch the sunrise (that's if you consider voluntarily getting up at the crack of dawn in the middle of winter something to feel lucky about). Evidently, many do.

27,485 people from around Ireland and the world applied to be allowed into the ancient tomb to watch the chamber be filled with light at dawn. 27,435 of these will be staying at home.

"What a wonderful feeling, as we gathered in the early morning frost, watching and hoping the sky would clear, " reminisces an American tourist who was lucky enough to win the solstice lotto and travelled over especially for the momentous occasion.

Luckily for him, the sky did clear, but many years have been ruined by persistent clouds blocking the sunrise. Given that people apply from all over the world, it's a long journey to make when relying solely on Irish weather.

From 7.30am on Thursday, visitors will arrive at the Meath tomb in preparation for sunrise. Bodhrans and traditional Irish costume will be welcomed, but this isn't Stonehenge, so naked people need not apply.

Within 17 minutes, the chamber will be filled with sunlight and the show will be over. That is, of course, if the stormy weather we've been having for the last few weeks doesn't linger and ruin it all.

Never mind, the days can only get longer from here on in.

Raining money on the plains January generally has most of us in the red, but one lucky Spanish punter will be loaded for life when the biggest lottery prize in the world . . . 'El Gordo' or 'The Fat One' . . . is drawn on Friday.

The Christmas lottery fund stands at over 2bn this year.

Because of the number of prizes, the lottery draw takes three hours.

"The most famous draw in the world" . . . Spanish National Lottery.

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last "sh been caught will we realise we cannot eat money" . . . Cree Indian proverb Because many tickets with the same numbers are drawn, occasionally entire villages or companies end up winning more than 100,000 per person. This usually leads to an increase in house prices in the area where the tickets were sold.