In 1998 the IRMS was commissioned to carry out a review of rail safety in Ireland. In its report, it identified a number of unreasonable risks requiring urgent remedial action by Iarnród Éireann. As part of the original terms of reference for the railway safety study, it was envisaged that there would be a need for follow-up auditing by the independent consultants. While the first audit was planned to commence in October 1999, I asked the IRMS to undertake a pre-audit prior to its carrying out the full audit so that I could have an early preliminary indication of progress on the recommendations contained in the 1998 report.
The pre-audit was finalised in September 1999. It concluded that a great deal had been done by Iarnród Éireann over the previous six to 12 months to reduce risk and that many encouraging initiatives had been started to improve safety culture. However, the IRMS reported that some unreasonable risks reported by Iarnród Éireann as being rectified or completed still required further attention. It concluded that the findings of the pre-audit should be examined in more depth during the full audit and that the full audit should include a more extensive survey to verify that the unreasonable risks had been rectified. From my point of view, it was good to note that progress had been made. However, it was and remains worrying to me that some unreasonable risks had not at that time been rectified.
The IRMS commenced the full audit in October, because that was one year from the safety report, and drafting of the audit report is nearly complete. From contacts with the consultants, my officials advise me that the IRMS is of the view that a number of unreasonable risks still remain to be fully resolved. This is obviously of great concern to me. However, as was the case in the original review, the IRMS experts were at all times accompanied on site visits by Iarnród Éireann staff who would have been aware of the deficiencies as they were discovered by the IRMS team.
Iarnród Éireann has assured me that it is continuing to work on resolving those unreasonable risks. I expect to have the final audit report from the IRMS within the next two weeks and I will take whatever action is appropriate after considering the report. I will seek Iarnród Éireann's immediate response to the findings of the audit. I intend to publish the audit report at an early date.