Mr. Barry Kenny:

There are some interesting differences between the French-British Channel Tunnel operation and our own. It is, of course, a Schengen to non-Schengen country operation and as such there are existing border controls there. They take place before boarding the train at either end because it is essentially a single operation. The complication we have is that there are 36 stations along the Dublin to Belfast corridor, six of which are served by the Enterprise. As it stands today, a passenger can hop on a DART or a commuter train at a station such as Raheny or Skerries and get off that train at the same platform the enterprise calls at. There are complications there. While we sincerely hope that Senator McDowell is correct in his beliefs on a hard border, that it adds to the complexity of how this would impact.

At a European level much of the concern relates to the interoperability, the technical standards and the market access provisions that have been built up over the years to allow for a single European area for rail transport. Certain European companies operate and own rail franchises in Britain and vice versa. The concern there is obviously to maintain that type of market and to understand how the technical models would apply post-Brexit.

Regarding our engagement with Translink and other agencies, we have a regular Enterprise board, involving the chief executives of Iarnród Éireann and Translink, which addresses all strategic issues, including this. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has also been very proactive in its approach. Earlier this year it hosted an all-island transport forum at which all sectors were able to contribute and directly feed into the Government's overall approach to Brexit. That has been reflected in the reports published in recent weeks. We will continue to do that. We will not be spending in terms of contingency at this point in railway station provision. We will await the ultimate decisions that are made. Through that joint enterprise board we will feed directly to our parent departments and very much have that common approach. Obviously the common travel area is at the heart of that.

We are working with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on models which would allow a boost to investment in Rosslare Europort. Effectively all surpluses generated over the past 20 years have been reinvested there, but that has been relatively limited overall. We want to be able to expand and deepen berths so that we can develop the port further. The main option we are examining is to establish a private concession to operate the port over a long-term period. It would remain in our ownership, which would allow the concession to get the finance to invest further without impacting on the wider CIE group debt levels. In either a hard Brexit or a soft Brexit we will take that approach to expanding the operations at Rosslare.

On contingency, it is about timetabling for border checks. However, the examples I gave show that even where that happens, delays can occur depending on the situations that operators will encounter and that the customs and immigration officials will encounter.

I believe that covers the questions I was asked.