Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their attendance today. I commend all their staff on the work they do. The bus service is really important in the city. It is hugely valuable socially and economically. We appreciate it and we would like the witnesses to pass on that appreciation to their staff. They are hearing many complaints here and people would think it was all bad; it is not. The services are really valued. They are so valued that when they do not work, we really miss them. That is what all the complaining is about. The complaints are legitimate.

I have a specific question for Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland. The Fianna Fáil Dublin parliamentary party group carried out a survey this summer on antisocial behaviour on public transportation. Some 93% of those who responded said they had witnessed antisocial behaviour of some description or another. One in three had personally experienced it. Less than 6% actually reported it and got a satisfactory response. There was very strong endorsement for having the gardaí deployed onto public transportation. There was an overwhelming endorsement for that proposal from in excess of 80% or 85% of the public. These were all public transport users. We went out to the Luas and bus stops with cards and we had an online survey. These were people who used the public transport services on a regular basis and really valued it. How much do the transport operators spend on security every year? How much do they think vandalism, antisocial behaviour and the withdrawal of services is costing? Those are my first two questions.