Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

The safety record, partly thanks to the grace of God, has been good on our railways but a number of high profile accidents across the water underline the fact that many casualties can result from such incidents. This issue deserves the priority it has been given but it serves a dual purpose. At the same time the railway is made safe, its capacity to carry traffic at higher speeds is increased.

I question the definition of "train" in the legislation, which states, "'Train' means a vehicle with flanged wheels designed to operate on a railway for whatever purpose, and includes carriages and rolling stock". A beet train has wagons and bogies, not carriages and, therefore, the definition does not adequately cover goods trains. The Minister of State might examine that before Committee and Report Stages. Section 4(3) states the Act "does not apply to the operation of railway infrastructure solely for industrial use...". I presume that refers to the Bord na Móna rail network. Perhaps the Minister of State could clarify that point.

I agree with the functions being assigned to the railway commission. I approve of the inclusion of specific provisions regarding the attendance of members of the commission at Oireachtas committees. In the past people felt they had discretion to refuse to attend.

I listened with a mixture of amusement and frustration to Opposition statements on the Government's record on railway investment since 1997. Very little can be said on initiatives taken on the other side of the House. The Leader quoted from Building on Reality, which stated there would be no more investment in rail. That was proposed in the context of the DART, which Pádraig Faulkner mentions in his memoirs. The new carriages that we are still using were put on railways. I recall a conversation with the late Deputy Jim Mitchell who was the then Minister for Transport. Those decisions were implemented during the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government and they drew a line under that.

In the 1987-94 period there was not much investment on this side of the House. Arrow trains were introduced, a sop when all investment was in roads. The initiative for the Dublin-Belfast railway came from the North. Rail investment has taken off since 1997. The Book of Estimates for 1997, produced by Deputy Quinn, provided for zero funding for rail. A complete transformation has taken place since then. I see new green trains at Limerick Junction, due to come into service at the end of the year. Works on the DART lines have been completed and the Luas has been a stunning success.

Although people criticise the capacity of this side of the House to deliver, much change, investment and improvement has taken place. In the 1997 rainbow coalition Government 20 point plan there is no reference to public transport. No thought was given to dealing with congestion. I would have liked the Opposition to be more positive when making comparisons.

The comments by the Ryanair chief executive about the airport metro plan being a waste will probably go into the annals in the same way as remarks describing Knock Airport as foggy and boggy.