Mr. Frank Allen:

There is no single standard but we should endeavour to do better than what is in place at present.

Deputy Catherine Murphy asked a specific question on the design and planning expenditure that took place on the DART underground. In moving ahead with the DART underground in the future, to the extent that the alignment and the design capacity remain the same that design would not require much reworking. If there are changes they could arise because the pattern of spatial development that has taken place in Dublin in the meantime has changed and we would have to respond to that. However, a great deal of that technical design work is a solid piece of work. It will last for a long time and could be used for that and any work we will be doing shortly in electrification. The board of Iarnród Eireann is considering opportunities to have hybrid rolling stock, that is, rolling stock that uses either diesel or electricity, so it can be used on the diesel track where there is no electrification today and when electrification happens over time. That will be very important with regard to climate change action. All of that is very far up the agenda of the board.