A urine soaked Dart station in North Dublin has become a “prime hub” for attacks on commuters, local residents have warned. 

Clongriffin Dart station is just a 24 minute train ride away from Dublin city centre and is a popular area for people who commute in for work. 

Despite this, travellers are only to the station from the Baldoyle side via a corrugated iron structure put in place over a decade ago as a temporary measure. 

Speaking to Henry McKean for Newstalk Breakfast, Samantha O’Flanagan from the Baldoyle Residents’ Association said she expected the community is “years away from a full structure”.  

“Going in there is such a mess… and Fingal County Council is not holding the land developers accountable,” she said. 

There is a strong smell of urine around the structure and Ms O’Fanagan describes it as a “prime hub” for antisocial behaviour and violence.  

“It’s just increasing more and more,” she said. 

“It’s really, really concerning how bad things are getting; there were two men attacked a couple of months ago on the same night. 

“They were only coming home from work about half past six in the evening - when people should feel safe coming home from work.” 

Samantha outside the Dart Station.

Nor was this an isolated incident and Ms O’Flanagan said Gardaí are rarely seen in the area. 

“There was a school aged child who was attacked not long after that as well,” she said.

“The station itself is a fantastic station if you look at it in the grand scheme of things but it’s an unmanned station - so, there’s already a lack of a feeling of security in the station itself. 

“There’s absolutely nothing to make you feel safe going down that stairwell - it’s very dark, very dingy.” 

Access issues

Helen, a Baldoyle resident, said locals want a permanent structure put in place that would make it more easily accessible. 

This, she hopes, would mean less antisocial behaviour and fewer instances of people urinating on the structure. 

“Anybody with mobility issues has an issue with it,” she said. 

“My son is neurodivergent - this was a nightmare, this was our route to school. 

“Coming up this was a nightmare from a sensory point of view.” 

Helen inside the Dart Station.

If the work was carried out, Helen believes it could boost the number of people using the station. 

“The NTA have promised to at least update our lift with 24 hour access - because currently we don’t have 24 hour access,” she said. 

“This lift closes off at night, so anybody who is working shift work, who is using the number 15 bus has no access.” 

The NTA’s 2023 Rail Census revealed an 11% increase in the number of daily Dart users.

You can listen back here:

Main image: A Dart train. Picture by: Alamy.com