Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

A number of reports were done. Two were made public under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 to Deputy O'Dowd. The first was carried out by Martin Kelly in May 2007 and is known as the Kelly report. The second is the one to which he referred by Egis Tunnels in mid-2008. That report formed the basis of the RTE "Prime Time" programme. The NRA dealt comprehensively with all the issues raised in both reports at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport in October 2008 and at select committee in November 2009. The Egis report concerned tests carried out in early to mid-2008 on the tunnel's main operating management systems known as the SCADA system. Those tests were to help ensure that problems associated with the system were comprehensively identified and the report covered all the main issues identified in the earlier Kelly report. While the report offered the view that the SCADA system should be replaced, all parties, including Egis Tunnels, which prepared the report, agreed suitable and adequate measures could be taken to address the problems with the existing system and those measures were taken in 2008. Other safety measures will be put in place such as the upgrading and replacement of the SCADA servers and improvements to the equipment maintenance procedures to achieve better equipment performance.

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