Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 11, to delete line 3 and substitute the following:

"(b) to enforce this Act and any other legislation relating to railway safety, and".

While 43 amendments may appear to be a large number to take together, I am satisfied that they are largely technical and interrelated and should logically be grouped together. First, I will explain the origin of these amendments. The Bill, as passed on Committee Stage, lays a number of functions on the commission. These include the enforcement of railway safety, prosecution of offences and the investigation of accidents in certain cases. Accidents are to be investigated using a no-blame approach. The Bill, as passed on Committee Stage, requires that certain classes of railway accidents are to be investigated by the railway incident investigation unit, while remaining classes of accidents may be investigated by the commission itself.

Upon reflection, I have come to the view that the commission should have no role as regards the investigation of accidents. It is necessary to ensure that the investigation of accidents and the prosecution of possible offences arising from such occurrences are not undertaken by the same entity, namely, the commission. We must ensure that witnesses to a railway accident and railway workers who are somehow relevant to an investigation have full trust in the accident investigators and feel free to speak without fear of prosecution. At the same time, those who have committed an offence which contributed to or caused an accident must be brought to justice.

The amendments I am proposing will, therefore, clarify the role of the commission, transfer all accident investigation functions from the commission to the railway incident investigation unit and leave the investigation and prosecution of offences and other enforcement action to the commission. This strict separation of roles in respect of accident investigation and prosecution of offences will more clearly define the roles of the commission and the investigation unit.

See this speech in context