Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his courtesy during the passage of the Bill or at least during the Stages for which I was present. I thank the staff for their help and unfailing courtesy. They made every effort to explain a Bill that is truly complex and they will not be sorry to see it being passed. It was an opus of monumental complexity and had an uncommonly long gestation.

This is very important legislation, particularly in light of the fact that we are entering a period of great investment in our railways, during which the network will be expanded. I hope it will make a contribution to ensuring the increased safety of those who work and travel on our railways and result in a fair and professional investigation process.

I do not like to be churlish on occasions such as this but I must say the way in which we dealt with this Bill was not appropriate. It was published in 2001, introduced in the House and then shelved for two years. Consequently, there was no continuity of treatment of the Bill. The Minister did not introduce it and I certainly did not deal with it in its early stages. I am not sure whether Deputy Shortall did so. If she did, she is the only Member present who was involved in the early stages. Even if we had all been present for the entire process, we would have noted that it took too long. There were too many changes and the legislation should have been reintroduced as an entirely new Bill and taken from the start.

Normally when we conclude dealing with a Bill, those of us who have participated on Committee and other Stages have some confidence that it is robust and will achieve what it was intended to achieve when passed. Whether we agree with every provision therein, at least we feel we have done our bit such that it will stand up to scrutiny. However, I do not know if this is the case regarding the Bill before the House. I trust it is but I have not had the opportunity to scrutinise the legislation in the way I would have liked. I speak for everybody in the House when I say that.

I thank everybody with whom I had dealings in respect of the Bill, when I took over responsibility for it on behalf of Fine Gael, for their courtesy.

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