Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

It is welcome that, so far, metro north, the interconnector and other important Transport 21 projects, including the western rail corridor and the Navan railway, have not been cut back. I hope the Minister will confirm at the earliest opportunity that vital transport infrastructure projects will not be savagely cut back in the bloodletting to be apparently co-ordinated by the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh.

The first subsection in my amendment refers to the greatest occurrence in the city since 1916 and 1922, namely, the "Big Dig". Major traffic re-arrangements will need to be made on foot of the construction of metro north and the interconnector. They are important and will occupy a great deal of media and public debate in the next decade or longer. I hope the Minister will not back down on these key projects. He could easily delay them during the preparatory work without mentioning it. Metro north is at first tender stage, tenders have been received and the Railway Procurement Agency will move to second tender stage next year. Construction is due to start in approximately 18 months to two years. I hope that, within the Bill, the Minister will have the confidence to leave the metro north project and other major transport infrastructure works unscathed. I ask that he accept my new subsection (j).

The other proposed subsections refer to a comprehensive drink and drug testing policy for all safety-critical workers in public and private transport companies. Among the Minister's other legislative failures, he has not introduced the promised road safety Bill. The Minister heard me ask the Taoiseach about this on the Order of Business today. Seven or eight major road safety issues have not been dealt with in existing legislation. My amendment proposes that the Dublin transport authority be given a role in regard to the invigilation of alcohol and drug-testing policy for the drivers of our transport fleet, who are safety critical workers. All the services which originate or end in Dublin would be subject to this invigilation.

The third part of this amendment, paragraph (l), proposes a "comprehensive departmental psychological testing policy for all safety critical transport workers in public and private transport companies in the GDA". This is an issue constituents and members of the public have raised with me via e-mails and telephone calls in recent months. I presume psychological testing is a key element in the recruitment of safety critical public transport workers. However, a shocking case was before the courts in recent days where a public transport driver apparently went berserk, resulting in the tragic loss of life of a female passenger in a car involved in the incident. My amendment proposes that the Dublin transport authority be given a role in this regard. This is particularly important in the case of new companies in the private sector which may not have the same long-standing systems, which I assume are in place in CIE, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and the Railway Procurement Agency in respect of Veolia and the Luas.

I urge the Minister to accept this amendment.

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