There has been a fall-off in anti-social behaviour on public transport in recent months, according to Iarnród Éireann.
It comes after new figures showed that more than 760 incidents of anti-social behaviour were recorded on the rail network in the first six months of the year.
The issues reported included multiple reports of fighting, soiling, sexual harassment, lewd behaviour and hate incidents.
Nearly half of the incidents were recorded on Dublin’s DART service.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny said most of the incidents involved bad behaviour rather than anything criminal.
“The most serious sorts of anti-social behaviour are very, very rare,” he said.
“Any anti-social behaviour is unwelcome, but the vast majority tends to be things like more boisterous behaviour that is not threatening to people but obviously can make people feel uncomfortable.
“It is reducing. This is an issue that obviously we have spoken about extensively and we have been working extensively with Gardaí and our own security to address.”
Security
The figures, released to TheJournal.ie, show that on average 125 reports of anti-social behaviour were made each month for the first seven months of the year – despite Iarnród Éireann spending €5.7m on security last year.
Mr Kenny said there are now more security patrols on-board public transport and more joint patrols involving Gardaí.
"Rapid response"
Asked whether a dedicated transport police service could help address the issues he said Iarnród Éireann was already getting “excellent support” from Gardaí.
“Certainly we saw a spike over the COVID area but thankfully the measures that we have put in place are reducing [anti-social behaviour],” he said.
“What we have found in working with Gardaí both in the community policing they are bringing to public transport and in joint patrols is a very, very rapid response.
“Obviously, the model of policing is a matter for the Gardaí ultimately, but I don’t think that, where there are transport police, that that is some kind of means whereby there is no anti-social behaviour – far from it.
“So, the issue for us is, are we getting the response and the support we need and we are getting excellent support, not only in terms of where an incident happens but importantly preventing incidents.”
Anti-social
He said the overwhelming majority of incidents reported are “behaviours that are a nuisance to other people on board” rather than serious incidents.
“We do realise that the reason we put additional resources to tackling anti-social behaviour is because, in a confined space, particularly on-board the services, it does make people feel uncomfortable,” he said.
“So, it is critical that we continue working with Gardaí and security.”
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