Mr. John Murphy:

Yes. We deliberately avoided this aspect. We did not want to be coming in here or campaigning in a way that could cause people to say it was just SIPTU looking for more jobs and employees. We have all seen that unmanned stations and platforms and the isolation of bus, Luas or train drivers on the system do contribute to antisocial behaviour. What Mr. Doyle and Ms Armstrong said there were very salient points. Mr. Doyle touched on the fact that there are repeat perpetrators who know the powers these security officers in the black uniforms have are limited or, to some degree, non-existent. Ms Armstrong gave the example of when a garda gets on a bus. It is possible to see the palpable change in the atmosphere and that people have more respect and are more unwilling to engage in this type of antisocial behaviour. That is because they see the uniform and know there is enforcement.

We are not here to say we want jobs for everybody and that we want ten people on every platform.

We do not want this campaign to be detracted from. This is about the security and safety of our members and the passengers. Everybody here is involved in public transport. Everybody wants to see public transport grow and be the preferred option for the majority, if not all, of our citizens. To do that, people need to feel safe.