An independent review into an abandoned Irish Rail project has been commissioned.
This review was commissioned by the National Transport Authority of a rail traffic management system, which was abandoned, costing a total of €50 million. It had been due to be delivered in June 2024.
The contract for this project was awarded to Spanish group, Indra, by Irish Rail, with the review into this abandoned project set to take place in September, as confirmed by chief executive of the NTA, Anne Shaw at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee today.
Speaking at the committee, Ms Shaw said this review will examine governance, delivery and project oversight arrangements, and "identify lessons" for future projects. She said that the NTA and Irish Rail would asses the need for further funding for the traffic management system with the Transport Department.
She went on to say that the integrated ticketing project, which was also being delivered by Indra, remained on target and within budget.
Elsewhere, chief executive of Irish Rail, Mary Considine said: "Regrettably six years on and two years after the commissioning date Indra do not have a safe product fit for deployment on our rail network".
Ms Considine added that Irish Rail had tried to see if the software which was supplied by Indra, would work on a small part of the rail network. But it reportedly found to be "immediately apparent that many of the systematic issue remained" with the product (quotes according to RTÉ).
Elsewhere at the committee, Irish Rail and the NTA executives also faced questions from Labour TD, Eoghan Kenny about whether responsible staff members in Irish Rail were sanctioned as a result of this controversy.
He also criticised workers at Irish Rail who were involved, adding: "The staff won't be demoted and won't lose any pay". He went on to say that Irish Rail's executive team were also responsible for this.
Speaking for People Before Profit Solidarity, Paul Murphy TD wondered if there was a "fundamental flaw happened at the start of the contract".
He claimed that this had enabled Indra to win a contract on the basis of a product "they had not yet developed".
"Irish Rail's infrastructure, which is more than a century old, presents highly complex legacy components", Indra said in a statement, and "this has made it challenging for both parties to reach agreement on system requirements and integrations, as well as to align documented requirements with the actual network behaviour".
They added that "every effort to address these challenges and rejects any suggestion relating to shortcomings in the safety or integrity of its solutions", (quotes according to RTÉ).
