IARNRÓD Éireann failed to effectively identify and manage the ongoing risks at a level crossing where a farmer was struck by a train and killed last year.

MORE than 100 railway viaducts have been put through new safety checks since the near catastrophic Malahide bridge collapse last year, transport chiefs have revealed.

AN official report into the collapse of the railway viaduct at Malahide has found no records to show that Iarnród Éireann staff responsible for track inspections had carried out annual checks on the bridge for scour – the main cause of the bridge’s collapse.

The combination of 13 factors led to the collapse of a viaduct on one of the country’s busiest rail lines, an accident report revealed today.

An independent inquiry into the collapse of the Malahide Viaduct in Dublin last year found that Irish Rail had been warned in 1997 that the structure was not safe, but had failed to act.

A MOTORIST narrowly escaped death after an Iarnród Éireann train passed through raised barriers at a notorious railway crossing in Co Roscommon last year, it has emerged.

THE slashing of 41 State agencies will be a “first installment” in a long term plan of reducing so-called quangos, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said last night.