Garda transport unit called for as passengers do not feel safe, TDs say

Dubliners and those living in the commuter belt do not feel safe on public transport, with a trial of a transport police unit now needed, a group of Fianna Fáil backbenchers has said.

The group released a survey of 1,300 commuters on Thursday which found that 93 per cent of respondents had witnessed antisocial behaviour, but only three per cent had reported it.

“That’s a really worrying statistic,” Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick said. Several of the group releasing the report, including Ms Fitzpatrick, attended a private meeting of members of the parliamentary party last month which heard criticism of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s engagement with antisocial behaviour issues. Dublin Bay South TD Jim O’Callaghan and Dublin North West TD Paul McAuliffe, who released the report, also attended.

Mr O’Callaghan said today he would not be drawn on the content of private meetings but said that the survey results showed “the people who use public transport in Dublin believe that there’s a problem on public transport in respect of antisocial behaviour and crime”.

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“We have a road traffic unit, an economic crime unit, we have a drugs unit. The only area in public life where you can be guaranteed you won’t meet a member of An Garda Síochána is on public transport,” he said.

[ Employee gets final warning for being late due to unreliable Go-Ahead bus service, Dáil told ]

“You know for a fact you won’t meet a guard there, whereas any other crimes you’re committing elsewhere, there’s a possibility that you encounter a guard and that makes it a deterrent,” Mr O’Callaghan said, arguing that there should be a pilot project undertaken where gardaí are available to deal with issues on certain route — without there being a “garda on every bus or train”.

Kildare South TD James Lawless said: “What we see with our own eyes, what people tell us in our clinics, it ranges from low level drug use, blaring of music, being rowdy to passengers in the next compartment, right up to assaults”. He related a story from a driver who had his family threatened and was told people would be “coming to his home to teach them a lesson”.

Dublin North West TD Paul McAuliffe said there are bus routes that are “consistently impacted” by issues such as stone throwing or buses being stopped because of antisocial behaviour. “People don’t have that bus route either because they’re cancelled or because drivers have a legitimate fear for their own safety”.

Cormac Devlin, the TD for Dún Laoghaire, said an improved reporting system was needed, with the current one not up to scratch.

“I say it isn’t sufficient because if issues are happening there and then it needs to be monitored and tackled, not by a private security firm. What we’re saying a dedicated garda unit that is moving around the city and county on various public transport methods, that they’re there to respond to issues and they have the powers of arrest.”