Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I do not want to say anything that might prejudice any action the Railway Safety Commission might take, and I hope the Deputy will respect that. I agree with him it was a miracle nobody was killed or seriously injured. I also agree that we should not depend on miracles to prevent accidents such as this happening or to prevent fatalities. Although I do not want to prejudice anything that might happen, I agree the reports certainly point to a whole range of different issues, such as knowledge management and the type of inspections, including structural inspections, that were carried out. There were shortcomings in those areas and it is a miracle nobody was killed.

It is important that we allow the Railway Safety Commission to complete its work. With regard to the comment on the Railway Safety Commission, which concerns an issue that has been rectified, it was more its fault that it accepted what it was being told rather than double checking it. That is certainly something that will not happen again. From everybody's point of view, the best course is to wait until the Railway Safety Commission decides what it will do in regard to this matter under the statutory powers it has, because it is the body with the statutory powers in this area. When that work is done, as Minister for Transport, I will consider the wider issues in regard to whether we can strengthen the oversight role both of the Railway Safety Commission and the Department.

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