Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The role of the Minister in this matter is to ensure that legislation is in place and that finance is available to implement the railway safety programme. The first railway safety programme, which covered the period 1999 to 2003, benefited from an investment of €600 million. Four hundred miles of track were renewed and 220 miles of fencing was erected. From 2004 to 2008, the total investment was €512 million. In this case, 134 miles of track were renewed and work was completed on 429 miles of fencing. The safety culture and safety management systems of Iarnród Éireann were enhanced completely.

A total of €513 million has been targeted for the third railway safety programme, which started in 2009. A total of €443 million of the funding is for infrastructural investment and €70 million is for the continued enhancement of safety management systems. The matter has been dealt with by me from the point of view of the legislation and finance. The Railway Safety Commission will make its investigation and it will report. Anything that arises as a result of that will be pursued by me.

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