Irish Rail increases spending on security services

Irish Rail is spending increasingly more hiring security contractors amid growing controversy over the level of antisocial behaviour and disruptions on rail services.

New figures show since the start of last year Irish Rail has spent over €11 million on security services, with the amount spent increasing in recent months.

In the first three months of this year Irish Rail spent €1.4 million on extra security, which increased to just under €1.6 million for the summer months.

Irish Rail spent over €1.7 million in the third quarter of the year on security contractors, the highest amount spent in a three-month period over the last two years. In total Irish Rail spent €6.1 million on security services last year, and €4.6 million up to the end of September this year.

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The figures were released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

The figures also included spending on security infrastructure, a spokeswoman for Irish Rail said.

Further figures show the number of assaults on Irish Rail employees has decreased since last year. In 2018 the rail service recorded 21 incidents where employees were assaulted at work. Up to the end of August 2019, seven assaults had been reported to Irish Rail by employees.

One of the incidents this year resulted in three employees being assaulted. Of the total 29 incidents of assault over the two years, 15 employees reported suffering injuries as a result of the attacks, according to figures.

The rail service said a further four employees were injured while at work last year in what Irish Rail recorded as “aggressive behaviour incidents”.

Security consultant

Aidan Reid, the former head of Garda Síochána's road policing unit, has been hired by the National Transport Authority as a senior security consultant, in part tasked with tackling antisocial behaviour on Irish Rail services.

Mr Reid (60), a former chief superintendent with nearly 40 years’experience in the Garda, started in the new role last month.

Despite a rise in reports of antisocial behaviour on rail lines and increased media coverage of the problem, Mr Reid said he was “quietly encouraged” by the steps being taken by Irish Rail to deal with the issue.

“We’re overall coming to grips with what has started to emerge,” he told The Irish Times.

He said Irish Rail had posted security teams at certain stations known for antisocial behaviour on the northside line of the Dart on a more permanent basis. The rail service was working with gardaí to tackle problems at blackspot Dart stations like Clongriffin in Donaghmede, and also improving walkways and public lighting at certain stations.

Mr Reid, a former president of the European Traffic Police Network, said he was impressed by the “level of CCTV infrastructure” covering rail stations, and said response times to alerts of incidents were improving.

While reports of antisocial behaviour were increasing, the number of recorded assaults had “dramatically” dropped this year.

Targeted policing

When Mr Reid set up a dedicated Garda drugs unit in Ballymun in 1988 the result was a rise in the number of drug-related crimes recorded, which led to a local perception of a worsening problem. Mr Reid said the reality was that the rise in reports just reflected more targeted policing to better capture and tackle the drug problem.

He said Irish Rail’s increase in recorded reports of antisocial behaviour was similarly linked to a better focus on the problem by the organisation.

He is conducting a review of the relevant bye-laws of all public transport providers which cover how individuals who are drunk or cause damage on the providers’ premises are dealt with.

The former senior garda said there would be a major improvement in how Irish Rail dealt with incidents when a new rail control centre opened in Heuston station in the coming years.

Work on the €135 million centre is to begin this year, and it will see Irish Rail staff co-located with the Garda traffic management control units. However, the centre will not be completed until 2024.

Mr Reid said locating the rail control centre and Garda traffic units together would allow Irish Rail to inform gardaí of developing trends before they boil over to “get an immediate response”.