Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to update him on this. It was a Green Party commitment in its manifesto. It was a Fianna Fáil commitment as well that we have a transport security force and transport police supported by colleagues in the programme for Government. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Regional Independents have agreed that measure, and it is an important step forward that that be done. We are already working on it. We will require legislation. The transport security force will sit under the NTA. I will establish it. I have already had discussions with the Minister for Justice, Deputy O'Callaghan. I am waiting for options papers on that, but we have commenced the work already. The sooner it is the better, frankly. There have been changes made by the previous Minister for Justice as well with regard to Garda hubs in transport areas and that has been welcomed. That will be expanded. To answer the Deputy's question on where the transport security force would operate, I would see it operating initially on our rail and Luas lines. It will operate on buses, but we will need to scale it up. We will have to look at how we scale it up. We need to underpin it by legislation. Recruitment will also have to happen and An Garda Síochána will be a crucial part of it, but we are working on the establishment of the transport security force as we speak.

See this speech in context