Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can say that some of them are present in the House. We called for a very similar policing unit and we had an extensive debate on the matter. The Cathaoirleach made a very engaging and constructive contribution - it takes up quite a lot of the debate transcript. Senator Horkan was in the Chair that day. I will not go into all of that now, but I am glad to see that there has been a bit of change. We are all entitled to change our minds. I genuinely believe that. The Minister of State is in government, but the point is that we need to speak with one voice. In the Irish Daily Mailarticle to which I refer, I stated, "The Government needs to speak with one voice and develop a clear strategy on a dedicated transport police". On the motion, the article indicates that I noted "that Fine Gael TDs such as Alan Farrell and Neale Richmond [and An Tánaiste, Deputy Leo Varadkar] had come out in favour of such a unit." Fair play to them. The Minister for Justice was quoted in the article as saying "I am advised that An Garda Síochána does not propose to establish a dedicated transport policing unit at this time ... Gardaí are conducting both overt and covert patrols of various public transport networks". At the time, I congratulated Deputy Neale Richmond, who has since become a Minister of State, for his decisive action. He, too, issued a substantial number of calls for the establishment of such a unit. I was of the view then that it was time to look forward.

On a number of other occasions, I spoke in detail about women feeling vulnerable and harassed on public transport.I drew attention to the very important document Travelling in a Woman's Shoes, which was commissioned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. It shared the experiences of a large number of Irish women around their fear for their safety when using public transport, cycling or walking alone. Arup conducted this research, which is very important. It surveyed more than 1,000 women and men through various interviews around their fears when using public transport. It all supports what is being said here.

I also spoke about a number of other aspects of this matter. Of the people who were surveyed by Arup, 55% said that they would not use public transport after dark and 34% said that they felt afraid or insecure on the public travel network. The Luas was mentioned in detail, as well as public buses, trains and the DART. Women felt unsafe about historical violent incidents they had seen or heard about in the media. The key issues in this report, from the people who had experienced these issues, were verbal harassment, violent behaviour and sexual harassment. High-visibility policing is an issue for people, as are the use of more CCTV, a public campaign and the introduction of a zero tolerance policy by the Government. The key issue of this Arup report is that there should be a major focus on the well-being of women and on their feeling safe when travelling on public transport.

I take it that there has been a change of heart. People will have looked at it and reflected on the matter in those few months. I support it and I will be supporting it but let us be clear here: we cannot have a situation where a few months ago the then Minister for Justice said that she was against it while the Tánaiste was in favour of it. I am trying to be constructive when I say this. Let us speak with one voice on the issue. If there is a commitment to roll out a dedicated policing network on our public transport corridors, then let us proceed to do so. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response but it is important that everyone - women, men and children, old and young - must feel secure and must feel safe when using our public transport. There was a modal shift in Government policy that was a proactive policy for getting people out of cars and walking, cycling and using public transport to their place of work and for leisure purposes in their communities. To gain more momentum with that policy it is important to put out a highly visible network.

I wish to thank the union officials I have engaged with. I thank the officials and the people who are here in the Chamber. This is an important issue. Hopefully, we will have support right across the House for the motion. I again thank the sponsors of the motion for pursuing this matter.