Mr. Frank Allen:

Dealing with the substance of the issue, I can say with absolute confidence, having chaired the audit committee and having read thorough internal audit reports on a regular basis, that I do not have any concern regarding what was described thus. I have no concern whatsoever. Any organisation in the public sector or the private sector here in Ireland or internationally needs to continue to find ways to achieve better value for money. In terms of much of the dialogue currently taking place about redeploying resources, getting more staff on trains rather than in offices and a range of issues like that, every organisation needs to commit to that sort of transformation, not to deal with skullduggery or waste but to make sure that we provide excellent value for money and a high-quality service. That is the focus. There absolutely is a need for changes and the management has committed to implementing those, and that will provide a better service and save money. There is no issue about skullduggery or waste - absolutely not.

Moving on, there is one vacancy on the board at present. That is going through a certain process with the public appointments system and I presume it will be filled some time soon. A number of vacancies were filled in recent months, including by people with very good experience in human resources, HR, which is very useful on the board, and an accountant was appointed last week. The board is almost at its full complement and the range of skills around the table is a very good one. If someone were to ask me today what I would look for if an another vacancy were to arise, I would perhaps look having more consumer marketing skills or something like that. There is a range of skills on the board with which I am very happy and I expect the one vacancy on it to be filled quite soon.

Moving on to the Deputy's question about ensuring our infrastructure is adequately maintained and investment is made in it, we all know we have come through a period in Ireland where we did not have the money to invest large amounts of money in infrastructure. We are now catching up with that. We are talking about rolling stock and fixed infrastructure. In Ireland, as in every other part of the world, that infrastructure needs to be paid for from the public sector. Following the rail review I mentioned that was carried out by the National Transport Authority, there is active engagement with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to make sure that now there is a bit more money available, some of it will be allocated to recover some of the infrastructure issues that have led, as Deputy Troy said, to a longer journey time than is necessary. I am confident that with our engagement with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, those issues are being addressed, are being taken seriously and that over the coming months, more money will be available to remove temporary speed restrictions to improve-----