Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Private Members' motion. I also welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming.

I want to dwell on the issue of the establishment of a dedicated public transport unit within An Garda Síochána. Before I came here for the debate, I did a search on all press coverage on this issue from a few months ago. I have a printout. I was quoted in the Irish Daily Mailwhere I expressed my disappointment at the Government parties in the Seanad for rejecting a similar proposal to that which we are discussing today. There are a number of other ones, and I would be happy to share them. I do not, however, want to play politics here. I just want to identify a few facts, as Senator Sherlock said. On 3 November 2022, in a transcript provided from a debate held in the House, I said:

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following paragraph under "calls on the Government to:"

"- collaborate with An Garda Síochána, the NTA and public transport stakeholders to establish a dedicated Transport Policing Unit on the public transport network;".

I called a vote on the amendment. Some people may say "You are a bit of a pain in the arse over there with a few others in the Opposition", but it is good because we have the names. I do not propose to read them out.