Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There has to some caution in this regard. The book by Dr. Maurice Manning and Dr. Muiris MacCarthaigh mentioned that an inquiry into railway signalling, the cost of which had increased from €16 million to €64 million, was one of the victims of the Abbeylara judgment. It is now frozen. I appreciate that the Minister has always tried to counteract that judgment. I understand that a sizeable percentage of the cost of joining the two Luas lines would be spent on new signalling between Lansdowne Road and Howth Junction. CIE can say that is a commercial decision, but I think the Oireachtas must know what is going on. We seem to have a particular problem with signalling. I think the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Kelly, wanted to answer the questions we were asking him. Although these bodies are commercial, they know very well where to find the Minister, Deputy Howlin, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, when they are looking for money. In that regard, they are somewhat like the other non-governmental organisations that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform wants to include in the freedom of information regime. If I were him, I would tell them that if they want a lot of money for signalling, they will have to be able to tell the Parliament whether the signals in question are gold-plated or normal. The commercial excuse holds less water if the body is hanging around the Department of Finance looking for subsidies.