Dáil debates

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Road Transport Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I do not say that without great consideration and without experience. Deputy Dooley was on the committee of which I was a member and which certainly cast considerable doubt over the good repute of Iarnród Éireann. I am not talking specifically about safety, although that should be mentioned. The Minister will be aware of the disgraceful incident involving Iarnród Éireann - the Malahide viaduct case. In 2009 the viaduct collapsed and it was quite obvious that safety rules had been neglected. Lives could have been lost and it was a miracle that they were not. If that sort of offence and negligence had occurred in rail or road transport in the private sector, anybody applying for a licence would undoubtedly have been refused at the next application. We need to apply the same principles to the State sector, as the Minister mentions in terms of Dublin Bus, as we have in the private sector.

Of course it is unthinkable that a State monopoly of that sort in practical terms should be refused a licence. On the other hand, it is unthinkable that it should behave in the cavalier way it did and not be accountable for it. Iarnród Éireann is a case in point. It is not accountable and does not deserve to receive a licence under these criteria for several other reasons. What was unveiled about Iarnród Éireann at that particular committee was devastating and proved conclusively that it was an organisation of ill repute. It was an organisation not being run properly either for the benefit of the taxpayer or for the benefit of its customers. I refer specifically to the Baker Tilly report with which the Minister will be familiar. This report looked into the functioning of Iarnród Éireann and found evidence of backhanders, procurement breaches and theft inside this semi-State body. Any damage that could have been done to the reputation of the company was done but the report was buried. Iarnród Eireann is a sister company of Bus Éireann and CIE overlooks and supervises them but if can happen in Iarnród Éireann, it is questionable that the company should be given a licence. That is a difficult reality to face but the chief rail operator in the State operates in a culture of secrecy and issues accounts, which are not transparent and are almost impossible to understand. They did not reveal the fact that the company paid €500,000 for a report in which it is damned in every paragraph and, therefore, we have to ask whether it should have a licence. I am interested in the Minister's response to that because there are equal requirements on the private and public sectors and just because a semi-State company is a State monopoly does not mean it should not meet the same high standards of safety and probity as a small operator giving little employment.

I applaud the fact that the Bill has been introduced and that it applies to Bus Éireann but let the Minister in future be fair in his judgment of Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann, even if it is unthinkable to refuse a licence in both sectors.

I am a little uneasy about the ministerial power provided for in the legislation. My understanding is that all powers rest with the Minister of the day. I acknowledge the power of appeal but the Minister has the power to refuse licences, to question offences committed and to even consider offences such as murder, drug trafficking and other political offences, to which my friends in Sinn Féin have referred. The difficulty is that the Minister can make a subjective judgment on the so-called offences. Such a power is open to political abuse, particularly in the case of people in Sinn Féin, but also in the case of giving commercial preference to people operating within the Minister's influence and sphere. I do not for a moment suggest that the Minister would ever get involved in anything like that but law of this sort should be secure against future bad and corrupt Ministers who will abuse it. The way the provision is phrased gives enormous potential for abuse politically and commercially.

The Minister will not recall the time the Minister for Local Government had the power of appeal over planning permission. That was abused by unscrupulous Ministers and I am worried, having listened to the contributions of Deputies Ferris and Ellis, that there is potential for political and commercial abuse in future in the powers given to the Minister in the legislation. I ask him to give these powers to a more independent political person or institution.

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