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

I thank the Minister. While some efforts have been made, such as operation twin track, which was the most recent iteration of what An Garda Síochána has been doing to deal with anti-social behaviour on public transport, we cannot have a piecemeal solution. Criminal and anti-social behaviour on public transport is widespread and we need to recognise that. The figures released to me by the Department of Justice state that 16 arrests were made as part of the most recent day of action on 21 November. This does not include intelligence that was gathered by those on the front line carrying out the operations. When gardaí go out and do this, there are results and we see that things can change and improvements can be made. According to figures released by Irish Rail, 170 incidences of anti-social behaviour on Irish Rail were reported in the first three months of this year alone. We have a serious problem. I have engaged with An Garda Síochána, commuters, unions and workers and everyone I speak to agrees that we need a proper division of An Garda Síochána to provide public transport policing as soon as possible. The Government is resisting it, but we need to regroup and look at everything again after what happened in the past week.

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