Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his presentation. With regard to the fourth railway package, there are issues with regard to the awarding of the PSO contracts, and a court case is outstanding in this regard. I am a little worried that PSO cutbacks and allowing other operators to take on PSO contracts will lead to further privatisation. Will the Minister comment on that?

There will be a division between the management of the rail infrastructure and the operation of the rail services. Will he explain how that will work? Will Irish Rail operate a different setup to manage that? Will this be more beneficial in the context of increased co-operation between rail operators North and South?

I refer to the proposal to amend Directive 96/53/EC, which relates to the height, length, weight and so on of HGVs. The standard height in Europe is 4 m. Will this have repercussions for Irish hauliers? There are cabotage issues throughout Europe.

The Minister referred as he closed his contribution to the tracking of aeroplanes following the recent tragic accident. What is the Council considering? This is a significant issue. What happened to the Malaysian Airlines flight - an aeroplane disappearing off the face of the earth - cannot be allowed to happen again. Will this be a major issue during the discussions?