Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that no consideration is being given to establishing a dedicated transport police service. Most other countries across Europe and many places throughout the world have that in place and it works very well. We also know millions of euro are being spent every year on private security firms doing this kind of work and they only deal with aspects of the issue. They do not deal with the broad range that An Garda Síochána could deal with because of its remit.

We are now at a stage where we are encouraging more people to use public transport because of global warming, our carbon footprint and all of that. Nevertheless, people feel unsafe in doing that. The Government should consider this very seriously and put in place a pilot programme in Dublin city on the DART, Luas and certain other areas. If that could be done, people would regain confidence in using these public services without fear. It would also give some sense of hope and confidence to the people who work in these services. A week ago, a man who works in the transport service in Dublin told me horrific stories about some of his colleagues receiving threats and abuse. It is long past time we took the bull by the horns and established a pilot programme for this. It would not cost much money. We need additional Garda resources for all kinds of things. We all understand that. In this particular instance, it is clearly something that should be delivered as soon as possible.

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