A report on the weekend derailment of the Dublin-Westport passenger train in Co Roscommon will be presented to Cabinet tomorrow by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke.
Following a visit to the accident site at Knockcroghery, the Minister said that safety on the rail network was of paramount importance and she did not rule out the commissioning of an international consultancy study on the Irish railway system.
However, she rejected claims by the Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Ivan Yates, that Irish Rail's maintenance budget is only £1 million annually. The real figure is in excess of £26 million, she said.
Though an interim report on the crash is understood to have been provided to the Minister yesterday - with a full report to follow today - there was no official indication of the cause of the derailment. According to Mr Yates, the likely cause was a fault in the steel rail.
"Modern railways, to operate safely at speed, require continuous welding rail and automatic signalling. This doesn't apply from Athlone to Westport on this route. I believe this accident would not have happened if the permanent way had been modernised," he added.
The Minister should immediately commission an international consultancy study of the safety of Irish railways, particularly relating to the older type of track, Mr Yates said. Irish Rail conducted inquiries into accidents, which amounted to "an internal process".
There were 180 passengers on the train when the derailment happened near the village of Knockcroghery between Athlone and Roscommon. All sections of the train, apart from the locomotive, were derailed and 13 people were taken to hospital. None was seriously injured.
