The Railway Safety Commissioner has told an Oireachtas Committee that the collapse of the Malahide viaduct was a wake-up call for everyone concerned with rail safety.
Gerald Beesley said a new Europe-wide regime of supervision of safety management systems would be introduced in January 2011.
Mr Beesley said any deficiencies would be vigorously pursued.
A major disaster was averted when the Broadmeadow stone viaduct near Malahide collapsed in August last year minutes after a passenger train had crossed it.
A Rail Accident Investigation report confirmed that the collapse was due to the erosion of a weir supporting the viaduct.
It was critical of Iarnród Éireann's failure to notice problems in an inspection days prior to the collapse.
Three separate investigations were undertaken and a number of recommendations were made on how to prevent a repeat of such an incident.
Chief Inspector of the Railway Safety Commission Anthony Byrne said of the 16 recommendations made by the RSC, 13 had been completed and three were progressing.
He said of the four non-compliances identified, all had been addressed.
Labour TD Joe Costello said the Malahide viaduct incident pointed to a litany of failings over an extended period of time.
He said the Safety Commission had failed to oversee the failings of Iarnród Éireann.
Local Green TD Trevor Sargent said alarm bells should have been ringing very loudly when notification had been given by the Malahide sea scouts of erosion of the viaduct.
Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kennedy called for a reduction in the three-year safety report to be reduced to at least a two-year time frame.
Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd accused the Railway Safety Commission of not doing their job.
