Vandalism costs Irish Rail €900k with DART trains accounting for over half the damage in 2025

Irish Rail’s guidance document said dealing with spray paint was 'absolutely imperative' so that trains were not seen as a 'blank canvas' for further attacks on the fleet.

Vandals cost Irish Rail almost €900,000 last year daubing trains in graffiti and smashing the windows of carriages.

Internal records from the rail operator detail nearly 70 separate graffiti attacks during 2025, with the cost of cleaning and repairing trains calculated at close to €760,000.

Another €143,500 worth of replacement glass was needed to fix up damaged windows, windscreens, headlights and destination signage.

The most expensive graffiti attack took place in December when damage costing €26,000 was caused to a single commuter train.

Clean-up costs for several other serious incidents ranged from €17,000 to €19,500, according to records released under FOI. They showed that February was the worst month for vandalism with 12 attacks while another nine were reported in September.

DART trains bore the brunt of the damage and accounted for more than half of all the graffiti incidents recorded in 2025.

Irish Rail’s records listed three separate incidents in a single day on September 29, which had a combined clean-up bill of over €32,000.

Costly incidents of broken glass included more than €4,000 for driver-side windscreens, €2,300 for destination sign glass and €2,700 for headlight lenses.

Irish Rail said the €901,871 total clean-up bill did not include smaller acts of vandalism like ripped seats or broken door handles, which were dealt with as general repairs.

An internal procedure said a graffitied train should not remain in passenger service. The only exception was where it was needed for the next peak service, after which it is to be returned to a depot for cleaning.

Irish Rail’s guidance document said graffiti that was not dealt with could end up on “unwelcome social media sites”. It said dealing with spray paint was “absolutely imperative” so that trains were not seen as a “blank canvas” for further attacks on the fleet.

Anti-social behaviour

A spokesperson said Irish Rail was not immune to anti-social behaviour, which was a wider “societal issue”. They said cases were reported to An Garda Síochána and that there had been a number of successful prosecutions.

The spokesperson added: “Iarnród Éireann continues to work extensively with An Garda Síochána, our private security personnel and employees to ensure we both proactively put in place measures to address anti-social behaviour, and respond to specific incidents.” 

Other measures to tackle anti-social behaviour included CCTV, a central camera monitoring facility, rapid response hubs, and a DART and commuter text alert line.