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TDS FROM FIANNA Fáíl, Sinn Féín and the Green Party have reiterated calls for public transport police after a man was left with serious facial injuries after an unprovoked homophobic assault on a Dublin Bus in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mark Sheehan, 26, was returning from a night out with friends when he was headbutted by a man who had called him slurs.
Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South West, John Lahart condemned the assault today and stated that such incidents have become far too commonplace on public transport.
“My colleagues and I in Fianna Fáil will continue to campaign for the introduction of a dedicated Garda transport unit to help protect people using public transport.
“There needs to be a consistent approach to this. We must have a consistent and effective mechanism for security on public transport. People must feel safe.”
“The safety and security of passengers and staff must be paramount. It is in the public good in every sense that public transport is used, embraced and an attractive option for the travelling public,” he added.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice and Sligo–Leitrim TD, Martin Kenny said:
“Everyone has a right to feel safe on our streets, in their homes, and going about their daily business. I wish to extend my solidarity with the victim of this cowardly act of violence. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope that there is sufficient CCTV footage to bring the perpetrator to justice.”
“Last November, I raised the issues facing staff and commuters using public transport with the Minister for Justice. At the time, the Minister maintained that there was no need for a dedicated transport policing unit to serve public transport.”
“Since then, we have seen a further deterioration in the conditions faced on some services by staff and passengers,” he continued.
“This includes open drug use and drug dealing, harassment and assault of passengers and staff, excessive alcohol use, and intimidation.”
He called on Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to reverse their positions on this issue.
Last month Ryan said that any decisions regarding a dedicated transport police unit and the allocation of Garda resources would be outside his department’s remit and were matters for Minister of Justice and the Garda Commissioner.
However he also added that he was against Gardaí on public transport.
“I am given to understand that the views of An Garda Síochána are that effective local community policing can meet the policing needs of the public transport network and that the Garda authorities do not propose to establish a specialist or dedicated transport policing unit at this time.”
He pointed to several measures that he felt were sufficiently discouraging anti-social behaviour, such as CCTV, high visibility public safety operations and textlines for reporting crime or aggressive behaviour.
In November Helen McEntee said that there was no proposal to establish a specific public transport unit in the Gardaí.
“At the same time, the Garda Commissioner will always keep these matters under review,” she said.
“It is important to continue the work being done, which is effective. If the problem escalates or continues to disimprove, I am sure the Garda Commissioner will take that on board.”
Ryan’s Green Party colleague, Neasa Hourigan disagreed with his viewpoint however, telling RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime today: “There does anecdotally seem to be an uptick in those kinds of attacks, post-Covid.”
“We need people to use public transport and to do that they have to feel safe,” the Dublin Central TD said.
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It’s needed
@john: It won’t make a difference. Are they going to stick someone on every bus? All they can do is react to incidents in the same way the gardai do now
@john: 100%
@Mickety Dee: There is alot to be said for the presence of policing, whether it’s on public transport or on the street. If there is even a good probability of a would be attacker coming across a member of the Gardaí, I’d guarantee that they may think twice about doing any harm to a person. It’s one of the many problems of our current justice system along with convicted criminals getting away with little or no sentences in our courts. The minister in charge would much rather send out meaningless soundbites to the media which are fooling some people into thinking she is actually effective in her brief.
@Mickety Dee: I agree, they can’t be everywhere
@Margaret Deacon: can’t be everywhere so what’s the point? So should we just scrap the Garda altogether then since they can’t deal with every crime so by your logic why have them at all?
@Marcus Suridius: They have these places called garda stations, they cover the local area, when you take public transport you travel between these areas. What use is a public transport guard, who’s stuck on the wrong bus, going 30 minutes the other direction. The guards at the local police station 5/10 minutes away can attend to it.
What an excuse for a government! Only in it to be paid!
@Ashling Fenton: opposition get a decent wage too ;)
@Ciaran: They deserve it tho ciaran.
Too many scrotes in this country now. They are literally doing as they please. Its awash with teenagers, all dressed in black looking for trouble. I would certainly pay more tax if it meant more guards on the street. Although probably wouldn’t make a difference either, they’ve no respect. Their parents couldn’t give too fiddlers.
@Davy Evans: More Gardai =/= less scrotes.
Less scrotes = better education system, free college, more amenities, more opportunities for young people, better mental health facilities, more inclusion, more diversity, no same-sex schools, and about a billion other factors.
Yes, we can put more Gardai on the streets in the short term. It might alleviate a little, but the issues are systemic. I can’t sit in Dublin for a full day without being harassed by a scrote, it’s especially bad for women. Living elsewhere in the EU, these problems didn’t exist or were to a much lesser extent.
If I get assaulted with life changing injuries tomorrow, not much will come of it and they know that. There’s no political will to change anything from the status quo in this country.
Protection for the vulnerable is needed but education is really important, I was once a thicko but I’ve improved as a person simply because of education. We need to teach the younger generation to be kind and the only way to do that is proper education.
@Maximus_Demonus: The voice of reason. Education is key. But we need to value teachers. At present, we think “those who can do, those who can’t teach”. So, teaching is not doing? If you believe that, don’t send your children to school.
Intelligence is innate. Wisdom is taught.
@Maximus_Demonus: they only give a toss about their flashy Canada goose jackets and acting the maggot, education won’t help.
Why can’t the Gardaí simply enforce the control measures they already have. ASBO’s were introduced a few years ago and I reckon you could count on one hand the number that were issued since then. This part of the world is far too soft on crime and other parts of the world are too harsh. We need a balance. Here you are responsible for your dog if it attacks someone, but not responsible for your teenagers if they do. Where do you think the teenagers disrespect towards the law first develops? It’s not the responsibility of the teacher, it’s the parents.
Eamon Ryan pointed to several measures that he felt were sufficiently discouraging anti-social behaviour, such as CCTV, high visibility public safety operations and textlines for reporting crime or aggressive behaviour.
Seriously ? could he explain how effective for example are text lines at preventing attacks` So full of crap
@Dave Hammond: Reminds me of Demolition Man, where the future police and society simply assumes that people will comply to all behaviors due to future monitoring and visible safety. Then unleash a wild Wesley Snipes that just does as he pleases and the police have no idea what to do.
@Dave Hammond: yeh the text one is beyond laughable, a gang of fools in your face and your suppose to take your phone out and text a help line? Not a hope would you be able to with your phone getting snatched. He doesn’t live in the real world.
Just another excuse to spend more resources on Dublín at the expense of the rest of the country as usual.. Not as if there will be transport police in the other 4 cities
@a politicians promise is as good as a lie: Imagine spending money on resources where they are most needed. Feck that, cafe para todos, am I right?
@a politicians promise is as good as a lie: Transport Gardaí are Transport Gardaí so they will be where the transport is.
Or are you so focused on your pet issue you missed the point of the article!
These TDS need to come up with the cash first to hire more Gardai.
Moinister kick question to Justice as he wants nothing to do with it in case Transport has to pay the bill.
He wont have millions to waste on pet projects, which alot of people do not want.
They have these places called garda stations, they cover the local area, when you take public transport, you travel between these areas.
What use is a public transport guard, who’s stuck on the wrong bus, going 30 minutes the other direction.
The guards at the local police station 5/10 minutes away can attend to it.
have your say