New transport police must have powers of arrest, says justice minister

The idea for a new transport police has now made its way into the programme for government. File picture: Leon Farrell

A new transport police earmarked to be introduced by the Government must have powers of arrest, the Minister for Justice has said.

Jim O’Callaghan said establishing the new police force was a priority for him as justice minister.

“I think it is important that we put in place a transport police that has proper powers,” Mr O’Callaghan said. “By that I mean, unless they have the powers to arrest, it’s not really a functioning or effective transport police.” 

He said the proposal was initially from Fianna Fáil, but it has now made its way into the programme for government and would be actioned.

“The reason why we want to bring it forward is that there was experiences, not just in Dublin but throughout the country, of people finding themselves on public transport and not feeling safe, particularly late in the evening,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

Mr O’Callaghan said he believed the introduction of a transport police would require legislation, and this would need cross-departmental co-operation between the Department of Justice and the Department of Transport.

He declined to set a timeline for its introduction, saying he would first speak with Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien on its establishment.

When the new police force is established, Mr O’Callaghan said recruitment would be separate to targets set for An Garda Síochána as a whole.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

“It is going to be challenging, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“In many respects, we’re victims of our own success in Ireland. We’ve such a vibrant economy, we’ve such a successful economy, that it’s hard to attract people into the traditional jobs.” 

During the election campaign, the proposed transport police was compared to the airport police currently in place.

Asylum seekers

Meanwhile, Mr O’Callaghan confirmed charter flights to deport failed asylum seekers from the country would be taking off from Ireland this year.

A tender for charter flights was confirmed to have been awarded last November, but Mr O’Callaghan declined to set out when flights would start and if the Government had the plane.

“I know the answer, but I can’t tell you the answer,” he told reporters.

The justice minister said if a person sought international protection and was rejected, the individual should leave the country or be subject to a deportation order.

I think we’re going to see more deportation orders issued this year. No country can adopt a relaxed or casual attitude to its borders or to migration.

“It’s a security issue as well as being a rights issue.” 

Mr O’Callaghan said there were 32,000 people within international protection accommodation at present, saying the Government needed to take action to reduce the number of people coming to the country.

“Because if the numbers keep growing, it’s not tenable for us to keep continually getting more accommodation. So we need a more efficient and effective system,” Mr O’Callaghan said.