Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No, not right now. I want it done as quickly as we can. We have to get it right. To be fair to the team here, we have done a fair bit of work with it. There are options there and we need to select which options. We had a good meeting with the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and his team last week. It is clear there are no impediments from the justice side. I just wanted to make sure that the direction we were going in would not in any way conflict with the Department of justice, and it does not. We have a clear line of sight as to which way we are going to go. This committee will play a big role in this because it will require primary legislation, and we have to get it right. There will be a consolidation of by-laws. There are already many by-laws in respect of authorised officers and certain powers that are already within the transport system. We will need a consolidation of them, so I would not underestimate the amount of work required to draft the legislation and then to get it through the system. There are options to speed up the resourcing of the force as well. I commend An Garda Síochána for the work it is doing under Operation Saul. It has a focus on the public transport network. I also commend our public transport operators for the work they have done to increase the level of security in public transport and the investment they are making in that regard, be that with physical security or increased enhancements of CCTV on our bus and rail networks across the country.