Vol. 491 No. 6
94 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise when she will receive the consultancy study in relation to the safety of the railway network; the interim proposals, if any, received; the timeframe for the conclusion of the Government's deliberations in relation to the safety and future investment of the railway network; and if any of the proposed £114 million of unspent money on the Luas project will be provided for the railway network. [13067/98]
A consortium of consultants led by International Risk Management Services, a UK firm specialising in safety and risk management were appointed on 27 March last to carry out a strategic review of rail safety. I hope to receive their report at the end of September and I will then examine its recommendations as a matter of urgency. The terms of reference for the study require the consultants to bring to my attention without delay any matter which, in their professional judgment, gives rise to such an unreasonable and serious risk that it requires immediate attention. They have not made any such report to date. In the light of this provision it was not necessary to incorporate any requirement for the presentation of an interim report in the terms of reference.
As I have already indicated to this House I intend to publish the report when it is completed.
In so far as investment in the railway network is concerned, CIE has recently submitted a review of mainline rail investment needs in the context of securing EU or other funding in the post-1999 period. The paper identifies a requirement for further evaluation work, particularly an economic and financial appraisal of the proposed investment. I expect this additional work to be completed over the next few months.
This will enable me to make recommendations to Government on overall railway investment needs taking account of the investment review and of the findings of the safety study.
The Community Support Framework Monitoring Committee is the body with responsibility for making decisions on the reallocation of the Structural Fund assistance decommitted from the light rail project. I understand that the Committee will consider this matter at its June meeting. My primary concern has always been to ensure that Ireland does not lose the EU funding involved and that objective will now be achieved through the timely transfer of this money to other suitable projects.
I will be working hard to ensure that a reasonable proportion of the EU aid decommitted will be used to address public transport requirements. My Department has been working with CIE for some time to identify a range of potentially suitable public transport projects which can be contractually committed by end 1999 and where work could be completed by 2001.
