Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and his office for allowing this debate. It is critically important and is a matter of deep concern. The Dublin Port tunnel is the largest piece of infrastructure in the State and cost over €800 million to build. The operating system is called Scada — supervisory control and data system — and I shall refer to it as such.

First, I wish to get the timeline right concerning this issue. On 15 January there was an early warning to the National Roads Authority, NRA, concerning the safety of the port tunnel. On 23 January EGIS Tunnels and the NRA met to discuss the safety issues. On 23 March rigorous testing on safety issues regarding the Scada system commenced. On 26 March the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport held a meeting which was attended by the NRA. Representatives were asked specifically about the safety of the tunnel and whether there were any issues in respect of it. Questioning on this was forensic. It is my view that the NRA misled the duly appointed Oireachtas committee by not reporting serious issues concerning the safety of the port tunnel. I contend that the National Roads Authority has no credibility with regard to the transparency of what is going on, and perhaps even with regard to the truth about what is happening in respect of the port tunnel.

The EGIS report stated:

The system is unable to ensure the required level of safety. There were design and operating deficiencies and it had a lack of reliability. It was inefficient to improve and it would create confusion with the system if that were to happen. It is unsuitable to ensure safe tunnel operations.

Another key issue was the absence of documentation in respect of the system. Documents on how to run the system, what was there and what was not, were not available. There was no list of alarms. This would generate dangerous situations.

There are very serious problems with the port tunnel. They have been known to the NRA since at least the beginning of this year. If Paul Murphy, a reporter on "Prime Time", had not put this into the public domain we would not know anything about it. Accountability, credibility and, most of all, safety, are today in the hands of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Noel Ahern. The safety of the port tunnel is what we are concerned about and how we can ensure that it is safe. The Minister of State is accountable to us in the House, as the National Roads Authority is accountable to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport about what is happening in this matter.

The NRA has issued a statement to say that the system is being adjusted or improved. The conclusions of the EGIS report on the ability of the system to be improved upon are exceptionally clear:

Due to its design we conclude that the system will be very difficult to improve and will not be able to accommodate certain improvements listed in a special task order. Most parts of the Scada will need to be replaced. The main point of concern is the use of components, material and software, inadequate for real-time monitoring.

In support of this the report lists the technical options that can be considered and states that these will result in problems occurring at all levels of the architecture. They include response times for the commands and status reports, reliability of the communication system and data collection system, legibility and efficiency of the control interfaces, list of alarms, multiple windows and highlighting of important information relating to the structure. The report also refers to another report, by Martin Kelly, which relates to the network architecture. The choice of equipment and its suitability in the tunnel command control system have also been mentioned.

There is clear evidence of significant problems in the operating safety of the tunnel. The NRA has clear knowledge of the matter which it failed to give to the committee. There is the accountability of the Minister of State for the safety of the port tunnel. What is he doing about it? Will he identify in his response what has happened since, particularly in light of the consultants' view that the tunnel cannot be improved?

The key points I wish to make to the Minister of State are these. Has the NRA come to a decision regarding the replacement of the system? That is what is recommended. Will it be replaced? Not to do so will result in enormous expense and cost. The consultants believe that a replacement of the system should be favoured. Can the Minister of State vouch for the safety of the system by giving us an assurance from an independent and internationally renowned expert, experts or company, with regard to the current operation and safety of the port tunnel? We must have that independent assessment. Clearly, the professional advisers concluded in April that it was unsafe but now there has been a change of tune. We want to ensure it is totally safe and we want the Government to commit to an independent audit.

I received reports today that the Scada system installed in the port tunnel is regularly freezing, that is to say, it is still malfunctioning. Will the Minister of State confirm or deny this? This matter is of incredible national importance as it is crucial for the economy that the port tunnel works. It is also crucial that people can go through it safely.

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