Charlie Haughey's famous dictum that the flight of Irish women to British abortion clinics was an "Irish solution to an Irish problem" almost surfaced again in a report on rail safety. The latest rail safety audit by International Risk Management Services contained a measure of good news for Iarnrod Eireann, but it gently chided the Irish company for a slight tendency to impose British solutions on its own problems.

Quite what this says about the creativity levels in Iarnrod Eireann is unclear. But everyone knows British solutions are made for British problems - and all accounts suggest the rail safety crisis there is greater than here.