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

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht na ceiste tábhachtaí faoi shábháilteacht phaisinéirí ar iompar phoiblí. As he will be acutely aware, antisocial behaviour is a broad societal issue to which public transport is unfortunately not immune. I have witnessed, as the Deputy will have in talking to his constituents, that this is a matter that really does need to be addressed. It is those passengers and staff who regularly use and work within the public transport network who are most directly impacted by any safety or security incidents that may occur on the network.

To help tackle this critical issue, the programme for Government contains a strong commitment from the Deputy's party, my own and the regional Independents to create a transport security force under the national transport authority that would operate with similar powers to airport police and customs officers. I assure the Deputy that it is a priority. We have already started work in the Department to identify the legislation that will need to be brought forward and the powers this force will have.

We continue to work closely with industry stakeholders to identify measures to improve passenger safety across the public transport network. In this regard, a public transport safety working group with representatives from all operators, the commercial bus sector, the NTA, unions, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice and passenger representative groups has been established. The work of this group will be closely linked to the implementation plan to improve safety for passengers travelling on the network that was developed by the NTA from its annual safety and security report. The 2024 report is expected to be published in the coming weeks. I will read it with interest.

In my supplementary response, I will outline some other measures that are being taken. The previous Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, took some specific measures regarding transport hubs that are still in place.

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