Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I will forward the information I have to his office. I previously raised this matter in the House with the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, when I was sure all of this information was available. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, stated that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has no operational role in awarding contracts. In light of the information I brought to the House last week and again today, will the Government revisit contracts that have been awarded in terms of safety, including the colourful history of the company that secured this contract?

The company concerned was fined £7.5 million following a train crash on a section of line it had maintained, resulting in the loss of four lives and 100 injuries. It was also fined £2.2 million by the Serious Fraud Office and £5.2 million by the Office of Fair Trading for corrupt practices in securing construction contracts. This is worrying. I understand these convictions are on public record. I will forward the information to the Minister of State's office. I hope it will be looked at and that the Government will revisit the terms of contracts and will investigate whether this information was disclosed by the company concerned.

Many Irish companies with good track records in terms of safety and so on are unable to procure employment. Given the current economic climate here, with so many people unemployed and more people regularly joining the dole queues, there is an obligation on the Government and everyone else here to ensure that, where possible, there is positive discrimination of Irish companies.

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