Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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121. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport for an update on the progress made by his Department at tackling anti-social behaviour and improving safety on public transport services for both users and employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33992/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Anti-social behaviour is a broad societal issue, to which public transport is unfortunately not immune, and it is those passengers and staff who regularly use and work within our public transport network who are most directly impacted by any safety or security incidents that may occur on the network.

There is a strong commitment under the Programme for Government to create a Transport Security Force under the NTA, which would operate and have similar powers to Airport Police and Customs Officers .

Discussions regarding the appropriate model for the Transport Security Force are currently ongoing and are in the preliminary stages of the deliberative process. It is important to note that the introduction of such a force will require the development of legislation, which can have a significant lead time, but it will be expediated.

Nonetheless, the Government commitment to delivering a safe and secure public transport network, and the ongoing interim work on public transport safety, will continue, as will the continued support and funding for operator measures.

Across the network, all public transport operators are continuing to expend significant resources introducing measures to counter the impact of antisocial behaviour. For example, all services are now fully fitted with CCTV cameras, various text alert systems and control centers have been introduced.

The Department of Transport continues to work closely with industry stakeholders to identify measures to improve passenger safety across the public transport network. And in this regard we have established a public transport safety working group, with representatives from the public transport operators, the commercial bus sector, the NTA, unions, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice, and passenger representative groups.

We will continue to engage with operators and unions on the matter, and will continue to work with all stakeholders to provide safe, sustainable public transport.

I fully support all of this ongoing positive work towards creating a safer public transport network for passengers and staff.