Bus and rail services could be curtailed over antisocial behaviour

Bus and rail services could be curtailed all over the country from October 14 in response to "an epidemic of antisocial behaviour".

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) has warned that they cannot guarantee that they will meet timetabled services in the intervening weeks, though.

The NBRU reported that there have been 2,488 incidents of antisocial behaviour on Irish Rail services between 2013 and 2018, including open drug use, assaults and intimidation.

NBRU General Secretary Dermot O'Leary said that the situation is out of control.

"The stories are frightening: open drug use - some of the services have become drug corridors, physical assaults on revenue protection personnel, train hosts, train drivers; right across the system, no area is immune," he said.

Mr O'Leary said that the issue is prevalent across the country.

"We have had serious assaults on drivers in Kildare, Navan, Drogheda, Bus Arás, issues in Loughrea, Cavan, Monaghan, the shocking pellet gun attack on a Bus Eireann driver here in Cork last week illustrates quite clearly the issues faced by frontline transport workers, on an almost daily basis," he said.

The union reiterated its calls for a dedicated transport police, similar to one which operates in the UK.

They said that they will begin to curtail services from October 14 ahead of Halloween in notorious blackspots.

"We have had more than our fill of being fobbed off on this issue. There are absolutely no, and we mean no guarantees that the timetabled services of our transport companies will be met in full over the intervening period, each incident from this day on might very well trigger a reaction from transport workers," Mr O'Leary said.

"The level of anti-social behavior and downright thuggery across our Public Transport system has reached epidemic proportions, we simply cannot, we simply will not, stand idly by and allow it to continue unchecked."