Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. We want to get people onto public transport for so many different reasons and making sure there is a safe environment is critical to that. This is happening. I was on the radio this morning and I mentioned some figures I saw yesterday. I think 80,000 young people have taken up the leap cards and new travel cards. They are taking off.

On the issue of public transport numbers, I met with an international expert on transport who said that what is happening in Ireland is unusual and outside the norm. Most other countries have not seen the scale of return to public transport that we have done post-Covid-19. The public is, therefore, responding. Some 67 towns have new public transport services. New Local Link and Connecting Ireland services have been rolled out across the country. There has been a major expansion in public transport. We want it to be used and it has to be safe. In any discussion on that, those arguments would make the case for the type of unit within An Garda Síochána to which the Deputy refers. We could go into virtuous circle. The more people who are on the public transport system, the safer it will feel. That is where we want to go. Policing is a critical part of this, but that part of the question needs to be directed towards the Minister for Justice and that Department.

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