Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that there is a standard transport police across all modes of transport in Britain and we do not have that in Ireland. We have a patchwork. The Luas contract requires an in-house security service. While these security officers were supposed to have the power to arrest and detain, in reality, they do not have the facility to detain people who engage in antisocial behaviour and, therefore, arrests do not happen. Luas security workers typically monitor fare evasion. Irish Rail has security but even its hand had to be forced in the beefing up of security after workers balloted for action. It cannot be left to workers and their representatives to keep on banging the drum to improve the safety situation for them and passengers on trains and buses.

We cannot realistically hope to have public transport unit gardaí on every bus and train, but a strong message can go out that there is a dedicated unit, that antisocial behaviour and criminal behaviour will be clamped down on speedily and that such behaviour will not be tolerated. This is as much about creating a serious deterrent as it is anything else. It is terrible for any community when services have to be restricted. It hurts those who are law abiding and want to get on with their work.

Having a transport policing unit will not solve everything. We have seen the growth of unmanned stations and platforms over several years and this has become a magnet for congregation and all sorts of activities. We need to examine lighting, resourcing and staffing within transport companies.

A motion on transport came before the House in November 2021. If I recall correctly, it was the Chair's motion. A decent amendment to the motion was tabled calling for a conversation to happen between An Garda Síochána, the NTA and the transport companies for a policing unit but it was voted down by Government parties, which was disappointing.

I take the Minister of State's bona fides on the establishment of the public transport unit as called for in the motion, but he is part of the Government. Let us not play politics with this.