Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Green Party, An Comhaontas Glas, commends the Fianna Fáil group for tabling this motion and is pleased to support the motion.

The Minister for Justice has previously stated that "there is no proposal to establish a specific unit ... the Garda Commissioner will always keep these matters under review" if problems got worse. It is clear that the problem is not getting any better and now is the time to review the situation. I hope that, by virtue of tabling this motion, which I hope has the full support of this House, and with the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, in attendance in the Chamber, that all this will give added momentum to the call to provide a transport unit within the Garda to protect passengers.

The fact that Garda numbers and resources may be under pressure is not a reason to condemn the motion as unworkable. I believe that a simple solution is to ensure that there are enough gardaí. To have this motion accepted as a policy position tonight would mean that other things would fall into place and their expenditure would be prioritised to ensure we have the resources to carry this out.

We need to listen to people on public transport and particularly the drivers who know very well what is going on. The National Bus and Rail Union has described some of the experiences of its members on buses. Its members have faced issues such sexual harassment, physical violence and open drug use. For the first six months of 2021, there were a total of 3,061 incidents recorded on the Garda PULSE system that were related to using public transport in Dublin. The Dublin Bus service to west Tallaght has been suspended from 6 p.m. since two weeks ago. The initiative is the result of an uptick in violence, attacks and vandalism with 35 incidents in December in west Tallaght alone. No-one can blame drivers for not wanting to take such serious risks in their daily lives. It is an absolutely intolerable situation where people trying to earn a living must face such stress and potential physical and mental damage, and such infliction of injury, in their honest endeavours to earn a livelihood.

It is encouraging to see gardaí were present on some of these routes in recent weeks and that will help passengers and drivers to feel safer. This may be a solution ahead and I mean the introduction of a dedicated transport unit. I felt sorry for the decent people of west Tallaght because they all have suffered this inconvenience. Clearly, the safety of bus drivers is a priority but it is unfair for all of the west Tallaght community to suffer at the hands of a few. It is unfair that the good reputation and hard work of that community has suffered such bad publicity caused by the actions of some people either in the area or visiting the area. That is so unfortunate and unfair on the wonderful people of Tallaght. I know that because I taught in a secondary school in Tallaght for a year and found it to be an enriching experience.

Preventing violence is not only important for people's safety, there are knock-on consequences for usage and our climate goals because if people do not feel safe they will not use public transport. This Government supports a number of initiatives. In respect of pricing, the Government has reduced fares for everyone by 20% and by a further 50% on top of that for young people. For frequency and services, the Government is progressing BusConnects around the country. The Government has greatly increased services in rural areas, villages and towns through the Connecting Ireland strategy. However, much more needs to be done and I hope that it will be done. The Government is investing billions of euro into newer fleets and electric buses and trains, as well as opening new stations.

Safety and security concerning the overall experience of public transport seems to be the last stumbling block that we must tackle to take the next steps in the transport sector. I would like to see a quiet but effective revolution in transport. We need a seismic shift in that direction and so much more needs to be done. Not having proper policing of public transport is a massive stumbling block. We cannot let the narrative that public transport is not safe discourage people from using it because 99% of journeys occur without incident. We have ambitious goals for carbon reduction and increasing the number of journeys on public transport. The national sustainability strategy has an aim of 500,000 additional daily active travel and public transport journeys by 2030. In addition, the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area provides for same in the greater Dublin area.

I hope that tonight will be a statement of intent. I wish to make a point that is not directly on message. I would like to see the restoration of catering services on intercity rail services. Perhaps the stumbling block to restoration is the threat of vandalism on trains. Catering on trains made travelling by train a pleasant experience.

I support this motion. If there is a will then there is a way and we must see progress in this area. I hope we will all unite in the House to send a singular message and a clarion call to the Government to move on this issue. We must have members of An Garda Síochána, not security guards, at the heart of the solution, which is done in other countries. Finally, we should have a zero tolerance of misbehaviour, poor conduct and criminality on our trains and buses.