Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Doyle, Ms Armstrong and Mr. Wynne very much. What Mr. Doyle said is interesting. Representing a constituency that does not have a Luas service, I sometimes hear people say that it would be great if Dublin Bus or the DART had the security services that are on the Luas, without them understanding the reality that has just been articulated. The people causing trouble on the Luas know those security workers do not have any power, which is why we need transport police. This is an important point to get across. It is important to pierce the myth that the arrangement on the Luas service is working effectively from a security point of view. When trouble erupts, it has its limitations, as was mentioned.

I was chatting with Ms Armstrong on the way in. She informed that me she drives multiple bus routes at different times and never knows what is going to happen. Her experience does not come from driving one bus route in one area where there is trouble. Ms Armstrong is a great example to show this is a problem on many services. I fully support having a transport police service, one which, ideally, would be part of An Garda Síochána, but I am not being prescriptive as long as there is a centralised authority.