Ireland 'some bit off' dedicated transport police, Taoiseach tells union conference

National Bus & Rail Union general secretary Dermot O'Leary and president Brian Hannigan at the NBRU conference at the Maryborough Hotel in Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Ireland is “some bit off” establishing a dedicated garda public transport division, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Monday.

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) has been calling for the establishment of a dedicated unit to deal with antisocial behaviour that has “gone through the roof”, including an incident where a bus driver was threatened with rape.

The Taoiseach spoke at the NBRU conference in Cork as bus and rail workers gathered for the first time since before the pandemic.

Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the NBRU, told the Irish Examiner that “downright thuggery is being perpetrated across public transport” in “every county now”.

In the past “you could pinpoint certain areas where this behaviour would happen… [but] it’s now happening in practically every nook and cranny in the country”, he said.

It is “not so long ago since one of our members, a lady, was threatened with rape on a bus around Halloween 2019 for example”, he said.

Mr O’Leary warned that Ireland’s rail network has become more of a “problem area” recently and stressed the need for a “dedicated garda public transport division” to address this crime wave.

“There is no security, no visible policing on public transport,” he said, adding that the increase in frequency is probably a “societal issue”.

The Taoiseach said people should be able to travel “at any time of the day or night without fear or harassment” and acknowledged that there is more work to be done in this area.

“We are at a more general level working to develop a stronger community policing framework, stronger relationships between the gardaí and the public transport sector — and that’s all important — and we do have additional funding for that in the budget,” he said.

“There will be more gardaí recruited and so forth, but the issue fundamentally for you is dedicated public transport police.

“We are some bit off that yet if I’m honest with you.

“I do think we have to engage more practically with the Department of Justice, the Minister for Justice, the Garda Commissioner and yourselves [the NBRU] to work out a new dispensation that ensures that there’s a more structured approach to safety in public transport into the future.”

Mr O’Leary said the Taoiseach’s statement was “pretty positive”.

“The Taoiseach’s references this morning will give me encouragement that at some stage [it may be introduced],” he said.

“We’re not going to stop the campaign; we’re going to ramp it up in fact.”

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said “the establishment of a dedicated transport police unit is not under consideration by [us] at this time” and stressed it engages with transport operators “to provide a co-ordinated Garda presence on public transport services with an aim of preventing and detecting public order offences and antisocial behaviour”.

“Members of An Garda Síochána working to keep people safe on public transport, follow the practice of proactive policing and every incident reported to An Garda Síochána involving antisocial behaviour is thoroughly investigated,” the spokesperson said.

Among other issues dominating the NBRU conference were accessibility, reliability of services and transitioning to a zero-emissions fleet.