Professor Orla Hardiman:

I will give my personal view. My colleagues here might wish to develop it. The issue is accountability, as Dr. Doherty said. He is responsible. Who is accountable for the transcript I gave the committee? The issue is responsibility-taking and accountability. The person who is responsible should be accountable and the person who is accountable should be held accountable.

That is not happening anywhere in the system and that is what Mr. Lawless and Dr. Doherty were driving at. The presentations shared the common theme of an absence of clearly defined accountability within the system. For example, a train driver is accountable to the head of train drivers; a conductor is accountable to the head of conductors; and a line manager is accountable but there is no mechanism. Therefore, if the train is unsafe and it is unclear then who should be held accountable. That is where the problem lies. Does Dr. Doherty agree with my comment?