Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

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 or some aspect of it, or perhaps a legal expert. I propose in amendment No. 82 that the chief investigator should also be qualified to be an assessor. He or she may well be the best qualified for such a function.

On Committee Stage, Deputy Naughten proposed some restrictions on who should be eligible to chair a tribunal of inquiry into a railway accident. To ensure the impartiality of the chair beyond question, I propose therefore to go further than Deputy Naughten suggested. Amendments Nos. 84 and 85 propose that all serving staff of the commission and investigation unit, including the commissioner and chief investigator, should be barred from chairing a tribunal. All serving and former staff of the railway undertaking involved in the accident should also be barred from the chair. In addition, any other person with a conflict of interest should be barred. This may include some former staff of the commission.

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