Railway Safety Bill 2026: Second Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01 ============================================================ Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West I welcome the students. I look forward to their analysis of how we understand government. It might be important for every citizen. I thank the Deputies who spoke on the Railway Safety Bill. They gave informative insights not just into railway safety but into other issues. I offer my sincere sympathies to the family of Eoin Doyle on their tragic loss. Many Deputies across the House have raised genuine concerns in relation to railway safety and, indeed, the entire railway network. That just goes to show the importance of the railway system and the esteem in which it is held by Members of Dáil Éireann, both Opposition and Government. It is really refreshing to see that. Long may it continue. I confirm to the House that the Government is committed to maintaining a modern and robust railway services statutory framework that supports the continuing safe operation and development of our railway sector. It covers not just the Iarnród Éireann network, light railways and heritage railways but also the planned metro network. This is a key Bill to ensure the railway safety investigation unit will be underpinned in primary legislation. This Bill will deliver on this objective by establishing a clear legislative basis for the unit. It is also important to restructure the existing framework governing the reporting and investigation of railway accidents and incidents for all railways. We cannot deny the reality that railway accidents occur and will continue to do so but what we can and must do is learn from these accidents. In so doing, we continuously strive to reduce the risks involved. Despite recent high profile railway accidents, railway remains a very safe mode of transport. The second significant objective of the Bill is to update the Railway Safety Act 2005. In Part 3 of the Bill, it is proposed to streamline some of the functions of the commission for railway regulation, including the timeframes for the administration of the assessment systems for new works and new rolling stock so they are used by the Commission for Railway Regulation when independently overseeing the safety of our railways. It is important legislation is kept up to date and fit for purpose in the modern day. Part 10 of the Act of 2005 has not been updated. Parts 4 and 5 and of the Bill modernised the Act of 2005 relating to intoxicants and safety critical railway workers, including testing, sampling, analysis and enforcement provisions. The measures in Part 5 will align with railway safety legislation with the modernisation road safety provisions in the road safety Acts for the roles of An Garda Síochána and the Medical Bureau of Road Safety ensuring a consistent approach to alcohol and drug testing, evidence gathering and enforcement across the sector. A number of issues were raised in relation to young people using the railway network and encouraging everybody to feel safe on the railway network. This legislation is a crucially important tool for the Government to encourage more and more people to use the railways, which have been a huge benefit not just to urban Ireland but rural Ireland as well. In many of the contributions from Members, they were looking at particular advances in terms of bringing the railway to different parts of cities and counties. It is a hugely important piece. We have to be very careful to look at where the railway map was a number of years ago and whether we want to expand the railways, not just in urban Ireland but in rural Ireland as well, to make sure we have balanced regional development. I am glad to see Iarnród Éireann and the Government are advancing an awful lot of car parking in regional towns that have railway stations to encourage people to get on the train and use the train safely. This legislation is very welcome and I commend the Bill to the House. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-10-01