International graffiti gangs travelling to Ireland to deface trains

Investigating grdaí inside a spray-painted train carraige.

International graffiti gangs are travelling to Ireland to deface train carriages for social media hits, a policing committee has heard.

Transport bosses said the trend has emerged in the last two years, and said that €2m has been spent cleaning the graffiti.

The Dublin City Joint Policing Committee was also told that Dublin Bus is experiencing, on average, 10 stone-throwing incidents per week, including a recent case where a brick smashed through a window and hit a child.

National Transport Authority public transport chief Tim Gaston told the committee: “A particular problem that has emerged in the last 18 months to two years is international graffiti gangs are coming to Ireland with the specific purpose of getting their social media hits.” 

He said Irish Rail security and gardaí “have apprehended some of the groups” and that prosecutions have been mounted.

He confirmed that more than €2m has been spent in the last two years cleaning up the carriages.

The trend, known as ‘graffiti tourism’, is known abroad where gangs from different countries link up and travel to each other’s home city.

Stone-throwing

Mr Gaston also told the committee that stone-throwing was “by far” the biggest problem facing Dublin Bus.

He said “the shocking fact” was that the offenders are mainly primary-school-age children, which made it difficult for staff and gardaí to deal with it.

Mr Gaston said the incidents can be “dangerous”, adding that a child was hit when a brick was thrown through a window recently.

He said it was not confined to Dublin, and that Bus Éireann experiences it in other parts of the country also.

He said 105 anti-social behaviour incidents and 44 assaults were recorded on Irish Rail trains so far this year.