FIANNA FAIL HAS renewed calls for a dedicated Garda transport unit, as it launched a survey to ask commuters how safe they feel on public transport.

The survey seeks to quantify anecdotal reports of assault and harassment on buses, trains, the Dart and the Luas.

Launching the survey this morning, Fianna Fáil senator Mary Fitzpatrick said: “We as public representatives are being contacted a lot about concerns antisocial behaviour on public transportation.”

She said there was a lot of anecdotal evidence of this, and the survey would seek to quantify and streamline it.
Fianna Fáil TD for Dún Laoghaire Cormac Devlin and Senator Mary Fitzpatrick
Fianna Fáil TD for Dún Laoghaire Cormac Devlin said there is a complaints procedure within the National Transport Authority, but “I fear that not a lot of people are aware of that.

“Some of that could be complaints about timetables and all that stuff. So we really wanted to drill down right into antisocial issues.”

Fitzpatrick said the party was continuing to campaign for the introduction of a dedicated Garda transport unit.

“F​​or some bus users there’s no security at all except CCTV,” she said.

The survey will run until 30 September. You can fill it out here.

Politicians and transport workers have previously called for more policing on public transport in the wake of high-profile incidents of assault and harassment.

Speaking to The Journal last year, Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), said politicians had the power to make a transport police unit a reality in Ireland.

“I would say to politicians quite directly, quite squarely, are you actually waiting for something, a serious injury or worse on our public transport system – whether it is trains or buses – is that what people are waiting for?”

In 2018, then-Transport Minister Shane Ross said he would seek opinions from stakeholders on the establishment of a dedicated transport policing service.