Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 82:

In page 47, line 30, after "commissioner" where it secondly occurs to insert ", the Chief Investigator".

Amendment No. 82 relates to assessors who would assist a tribunal of inquiry into a railway accident in its work. An assessor would typically be an expert in railway safety, some aspect of it or a legal expert. In amendment No. 82 I propose the chief investigator will also be qualified to be an assessor. He or she may be the best qualified person for such a function. On Committee Stage Deputy Naughten proposed some restrictions on who would be eligible to chair a tribunal of inquiry into a railway accident. In order to put the impartiality of the chair beyond question, I propose to go further than what the Deputy suggested.

Amendments Nos. 84 and 85 propose that all serving staff of the commission and investigating unit will be barred from chairing a tribunal, including the commissioner and chief investigator. All serving and former staff of a railway undertaking involved in the accident will also be barred from the chair. In addition, any other person with a conflict of interest will be barred from the chair. This may include former staff of the commission or consultants who at some point worked for the railway undertaking.

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