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

I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, on bringing forward this motion. Public transport needs to be accessible, reliable and safe for people. Accessibility is certainly one of the issues raised in this motion with regard to the western rail corridor for people living in my region in the west and in the Minister of State's region. It is one of the big factors that could be a game changer for that part of the country. If it were complete, it would revolutionise the whole system across the west and north west to be able to provide public transport in that region.

A big issue we have, which we come across regularly, is the reliability of bus services, particularly the Bus Éireann service. People have to book online to get on the bus and then, because the bus is booked up, they arrive at a bus stop and wait. The bus comes driving up and they discover there are ten or 20 empty seats, but the bus driver says, "Sorry, those seats are already booked". The bus has to drive on and leave them on the side of the road. That is happening regularly throughout the country. That is a real problem that needs to be dealt with.

With regard to the issue of safety, numerous people in my area have contacted me about problems on the train going from Sligo to Dublin. On other train services, especially here in the city of Dublin, there is the whole issue of what is often termed "antisocial behaviour". It is much more serious than that, however. It is not antisocial behaviour. These are actually attacks. It is brutality that is happening to people. We have had issues of bus drivers being attacked. The real problem is we need to accept that if we are going to make public transport one of the main facets of our society, we have to make it safe for people. The only way that can be done is to have a dedicated public transport police service in place throughout the State, but particularly in our urban areas.

That needs to happen as a matter of urgency. I note the Minister of State mentioned this in her speech and said it is a matter for the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner. The reality is it is past the stage of considering this now. We need to put that provision in place and do it as a matter of urgency.

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