Incidents of antisocial behaviour and assaults on staff recorded by Irish Rail

Nine assaults, including a brawl in Drogheda, and more than 500 incidents of antisocial behaviour were reported by Irish Rail this year. File picture.

More than 500 incidents of anti-social behaviour or assaults on staff or passengers have been reported by Irish Rail this year.

Another 62 incidents involving accidents where passengers were hurt after falling onto platforms or getting hit by dislodged luggage, were also reported.

Nine assaults were recorded, including a brawl in Drogheda which left “quite a bit of blood”, and an attack on a Revenue Protection Officer who was rammed by a bicycle, sustaining cuts and bruises.

The fight in Drogheda in January involved around a dozen people fighting in the station. Gardaí arrived too late to arrest those involved, who had fled by train or towards the town.

In January, train services were disrupted after a man was stabbed on a platform at Newbridge Station. In February, gardaí were asked to meet a train arriving at Athenry, Co Galway after a female passenger punched a staff member in the face. 

In another incident that month, a passenger lunged at a DART ticket inspector after he was found to be using a blocked travel pass.

The log said: “He pushed me against the window and said he had friends in high places and would see to it that I would lose my job.” 

During May, a “melee” broke out in Thurles Station after two men were observed crossing tracks near the train station. After being told to leave, they turned violent and one of them followed staff into an office. 

“The man then attacked Traffic Coordinator A and in the melee had thrown a chair at him as well," the log said.

Among the passenger accidents recorded was a person who fell “partially” between the train and platform at Heuston Station, and another who was hospitalised after falling on the steps of the Galway Hooker pub. A person who fell on the platform in Shanhkill was also hospitalised.

In other incidents, passengers were hit by bags that fell from overhead racks, while in one incident in Athenry, a passenger was hit by a closing external door.

During one incident, a person had to be taken to hospital after apparently falling ill from either an overdose of drink or drugs while on board a train service.

In the log of anti-social behaviour, 19 incidents of “lewd” behaviour were recorded which included inappropriate sexual behaviour and urination in a public place. There were also dozens of reports of begging, aggressive behaviour, and consumption of drugs, as well as reports of false activation of passenger alarms, youths fighting on a platform, fireworks being shot at a train, and theft.

In one instance on a train service in Kerry, a man vomited and began to shout that he had coronavirus.

A spokesman for Irish Rail said: “While the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour, slips, trips and falls has reduced from previous years, this was, of course, during a time of significantly reduced demand, from early March onwards. We have increased security resources throughout the Covid-19 phase as part of measures to ensure regulations associated with Covid-19 are being adhered to.” 

He said there was improved identification and reporting of incidents, and a range of measures were in place to address anti-social behaviour.