Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this Commencement matter. For the record, I am asking the Minister for Transport to make a statement on his proposal to establish a transport security force. I am also asking whether city and county councillors are being considered for inclusion in the public transport safety working group. I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport and that Department.

I will set out some concerns about this issue. I acknowledge the programme for Government contains a clear commitment to establish a new transport police service with powers of arrest. This is the key focus of successful transport policing. If the service does not have powers of arrest, it cannot be effective. It is interesting to note there are differences in nuance with regard to the view of the Minister for Justice, which he stated prior to taking up the role, and the view of the Minister for Transport. I am sure it will all gel together. The practicalities have to be looked at. Clearly, there are demands on the resources of An Garda Síochána and this must be a consideration in the mix. We have the rise of antisocial behaviour on our public transport network which is simply unacceptable and must be tackled. The Minister of State knows this, everyone knows this, and any public representative will say we have constant complaints about antisocial behaviour and violence. There can be no place for this on our public transport, or no place or tolerance for it in our community.

It is always important to state our public transport network is also a place of work. It is a place of employment. Our transport unions such as Fórsa and the bus and rail unions are deeply concerned about the protection of their members who work in public transport. They are also concerned about passengers. Passengers and transport staff are fearful. In some cases they are terrified in their place of work or on their choice of transport. Their personal safety is of great concern to them. Many of them in our cities, particularly in Dublin, have lost confidence , which is a terrible thing to say. They have lost confidence in using public transport at certain points, at certain times and in certain places. The transport network is an important place and we need to ensure the absolute safety of all its users and that they have confidence in it. SIPTU and other trade unions have, of course, been great advocates of respect for transport workers and this campaign has been run very successfully. I acknowledge the responsible manner in which it has dealt with the consultation process with the Departments of Transport and Justice and An Garda Síochána.

We must make the public transport network safe for everyone. I understand the NTA, the unions, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice and passenger representative groups have worked collaboratively to try to address this issue. This is important. It has been suggested this transport security force would operate in a similar manner, and have similar powers, to the airport police or customs officers. I hope the Minister of State will raise this again with the Department. We must now proceed with whatever course of action the Government has decided on. We must go with it. The Government must identify the necessary legislative proposals and alterations to enable the establishment of this transport security force, whatever shape it will take. We must stamp out antisocial behaviour and violence on our transport network. When I speak about the transport network I am speaking about buses, the Luas, the DART and all rail line services, which are very important. The real issue is that the programme for Government contains a clear commitment, which I had a look at today, to establish a new transport police service with powers of arrest. There has to be a sanction, otherwise it will not be effective.