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JUSTICE MINISTER HELEN McEntee has said that granting powers of arrest for a proposed public transport police has to yet be “explored”.
The draft Programme for Government was published yesterday afternoon and it pledges to create a “Transport Security Force” under the National Transport Authority.
This force would operate and have similar powers to the Airport Police and Customs officers.
The programme for government adds that the new Transport Security Force would “play a central role on Dublin public transport”.
McEntee said that while gardaí already carry out “specific operations on public transport”, the government has “agreed to have something similar to what you have in our airport”.
When asked if the officers on public transport would have powers of arrest, McEntee said “this has to be explored”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, McEntee acknowledged that there are “limited powers of arrest for those who are in the airport”.
McEntee asaid that the government wants to establish a transport security force “while at the same time expanding our Garda workforce and making sure we have as strong a presence as possible, not just on public transport, but right across the country”.
And when pressed on why it took so long to include the creation of a public transport police in a programme for government, McEntee said:
“We’d like to do everything at once when we’re in government, but you can’t do everything at once.
“What you can do is make progress and I believe that we have made progress, whether it’s in Garda numbers, developing stations, opening new stations in our capital city.”
Public transport workers have previously called for the introduction of a dedicated transport police to deal with anti-social behaviour.
Trade union SIPTU welcomed the inclusion of a new transport security force in the draft programme for government.
SIPTU’s transport division organiser Adrian Kane said union representatives will be “seeking an early meeting with the incoming Minister for Transport to ensure this commitment is a top priority for the Government”.
He said anti-social behaviour and violence on the public transport network has “intensified since the pandemic”.
SIPTU Sector Organiser John Murphy said that making the plan “a reality must now be the key aim of all stakeholders in the public transport sector”.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have clashed over the issue, with the former strongly supporting the idea.
It is understood that transport police will be separate to gardaí, but Fianna Fáil sources were keen to state that a Garda unit that is currently seen on public transport on occasions will continue and they will be tasked with covering larger areas also.
Sources say they intend for the new transport security to have similar powers as customs officers and airport police, stating that they will be “authorised officers” under the National Transport Authority.
It is understood that the intention is to give them the power of arrest, though it has not been made clear whether this needs to be achieved through legislation
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It should be a crime to deep fake someone without their consent.
@Jimmy Savage: Agreed, but when it happens to Martin, who in fairness went to the high court, he was derided.
And Google, etc, aren’t doing anything to prevent this, I’ve seen Anne Doyle, The girl from TV3 ,I’ve reported each one, the last one was ” Google couldn’t find the ad that I reported ” eventhough it still appears .
@Jimmy Savage: It is though. The Online Safety Act now makes it a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a manufactured or ‘deepfake’ intimate image or video of another person without his or her consent.
@Jimmy Savage: Sure, but over and over we see those social media companies not care a single whit once they make their profits. Any fines are are a rounding error.
I’m fine with labelled satire or parody or some stuff that is actually fun (things like Sassy Justice or ‘if My name is.. was written in 2021′.
There’s so much more that is just not okay at all that propagates on those platforms… faked political or Hollywood starlets…
Then you have the circular activity of bots responding to each other driving up engagement on those platforms, which is profit that they seem value more that any form of ethics.
@Jack Hayes: Explain why it continues then?
@ben wu: Absolutely and they don’t care . They have enabled suicide, self harm , allowed lies to seem acceptable they really are what the world needs to be angry at…..
@Paul O’Mahoney: There was more press coverage over here about something odd looking about a photo of Kate Middleton’s wrist in a family photo, than there has been about those issues…
@ben wu: Was there?
@Jack Hayes: no actually, it is a crime to share or threaten to share an intimate image shared with you. Nothing about manufactured or deepfake
@DerekF: Even if it was as he said then there would be nothing against sharing a non-intimate deepfake where the purpose is to deceive others.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Explain to you why people still do illegal things or how people get away with doing illegal things? You must be new to this world.
It was a paid advert so Facebook must know who paid for it. That person should be prosecuted!
Why is this not happening?
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: Most are ex our Jurisdiction, and are probably not real entities
There is some awful muck on Facebook…. Full Stop.
@james rowan: Still not as bad as all the nazi propaganda on X.
@james rowan: Hence FaceMuck
Very believable, apart from the American twang abd the way she pronounces Turbidy …
Thought it was a genuine SF broadcast. Fits well with their actual,financial policy.
@Alan: Yeah me too
Soon the default belief will be if it’s on the Internet it’s fake, hallucination, or just plain lies and propaganda.
Aka “I gave them all the tools but they could not use them.”
@smatrix mantra: I disagree with that , the Internet was launched for good intentions, and a reasonable return by investing is fine, but the way a minority has essentially monopolised its content is the problem.
All those software engineers, etc, could have equally written code that was of use to the world’s problems, but that didn’t happen .
I’m using it now to share thoughts, most don’t
@Paul O’Mahoney: Every leap in technology can be used as a tool or a weapon, unfortunately most of the time it’s both but weapons seem to have more impact globally.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein.
That’s plain fake , not exactly deep fake
So sort it you legislators. It might cost a few thousand jobs. But what is the price of political stability?
Dennis O’Brien will take these charlatans to China Town. They are going down now.
Delete your Facebook account and other social media crap.
You will live happier
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