In December 2009, Iarnród Éireann chief executive Dick Fearn told an Oireachtas Transport Committee that, two years previously, Greyhound won the cleaning and waste removal contract for the railway.

Mr Fearn told the committee: “We had some serious concerns with Greyhound Waste. Over time, we believed the services for which we were being charged may not have been provided comprehensively. We challenged the company in great detail. As any good management team should, we went through what had been invoiced and provided very carefully. In due course, we agreed with Greyhound Waste that it owed us money back. Money was repaid from Greyhound Waste. We informed the company we had no alternative but to re-tender the contract. We allowed Greyhound Waste to tender again. It had paid money back and straightened up the account. However, the next time around the company did not win the contract and at present Greyhound Waste does not supply services to us.”



Shane Ross, then a senator, asked Mr Fearn how much Grehound paid back Iarnród Éireann.

Ross: “Was the settlement a seven figure sum? Was it more than €1 million?”

Fearn: “No”

Ross:“How much was it?”

Fearn: “I do not have the figures in front of me.”

Ross: “Was it not a large sum?”

Fearn: “It was a large sum.”

Ross: “Surely, it is the type of figure Mr. Fearn ought to remember.”

Fearn: “I do not have it and I am not going to guess it.”

It later transpired Greyhound paid €1.3million to Iarnród Éireann.

The meeting continued:

