Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his response. However, it is now 12 months since we dealt with Committee Stage of this legislation and we still do not now when it will be progressed further. The Minister has established an interim commission. Will he outline the legal authority this commission possesses? I understand it has none. If this is the case, does it not make a farce of rail safety? The report produced this morning highlights that the incident in Cahir was not due to driver error or a maintenance error, thus raising serious questions about the safety assessments of Iarnród Éireann. Does the Minister believe it acceptable that Iarnród Éireann continues to investigate itself regarding rail incidents?

Does the Minister believe it acceptable that an interim commission with no legal standing is now supervising the investigation by the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA, into itself regarding the Luas tram on 7 April? Does he not believe we need to have an independent statutory commission that could investigate incidents such as this and the death of two people on the Luas rail line in Deputy Gay Mitchell's constituency some months ago? Given that people have lost confidence in the RPA, does he not believe it unsatisfactory that an independent investigative mechanism is not in place?

See this speech in context