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

Like Deputy Hourigan, I take the safety and security of transport workers and passengers very seriously. It is an unfortunate truth that public transport is not immune to instances of antisocial behaviour and those who work within our public transport network are among those most directly impacted.

To address this, the NTA, An Garda Síochána and the operators work closely to promote order and safety on public transport services and to this end, each of the operators has introduced a number of measures in recent years to help combat the issue. Irish Rail, for example, has increased spending on security by more than 70%, from €3.7 million in 2016 to €6.3 million last year. On the bus network, the entire Dublin Bus fleet is fully fitted with CCTV cameras and radios for immediate contact with a central control centre. More broadly, An Garda Síochána established a new transport hub in the national train control centre at Heuston station and is conducting more patrols in affected areas, while the NTA has published a public transport passenger security report. Despite these efforts, it remains an ongoing issue for the sector. In 2023, a total of 2,791 incidents of anti-social behaviour were recorded and while these occurred in the context of more than 308 million passenger journeys last year, this remains an unacceptable number. SIPTU, in its Respect Transport Workers campaign, highlighted some of the issues faced by public transport workers on a day-to-day basis, including issues of vandalism and verbal abuse.

I look forward to meeting representatives of SIPTU to discuss these issues and the findings of their recent survey of members. To conclude, my Department and the NTA will continue to engage regularly with operators on this issue to ensure the safety and security of staff on public transport.

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