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Buses in Dublin city centre Alamy Stock Photo

Next government wants to create dedicated public transport police

One of the measures included in the new Programme for Government is to create a force to police public transport.

A PUBLIC TRANSPORT security force is one of the pledges made in the new Programme for Government developed by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and a group of Independents.

The two parties and the Regional Independents have been working on a Programme for Government as they seek to form a Dáil coalition together.

One of the measures included in the document is to create a ‘transport police’ to operate on public transport.

It wants the force to have powers of arrest.

Public transport workers have previously called for the introduction of a dedicated transport police to deal with anti-social behaviour, describing the abuse they face at work.

Refusals to pay, spitting on drivers and sexual assault are among the problems that drivers have described dealing with.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said in November that if his party was in power after the election, creating a transport police would be on his agenda.

“If public transport at night in particular is to work, people need to feel safe on public transport,” Martin said.

Martin told The Journal that there should be no such obstacles, indicating that government agencies such as the gardaí must fulfill government policy.

He said “democratically”, if the government “decides this is the way to go, well then, the agency of the state has to fulfill it”.

“That’s a very fundamental point. I think agencies and people need to realise that too, that there comes a stage when policy is decided upon by government, then it has to be implemented, whether you agree with it or not,” he said.

“In my view, we’re going to have more and more public transport. We’re going to have a Metro in the fullness of time. We’re going to have expanding Luas and so on, the Dart and all of that. We’ll have more buses, and therefore, if it’s to work, we’ve got to make sure that people are secure and safe.”

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    Mute Marvin Dollery
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    Dec 13th 2024, 12:47 PM

    Fantastic. Looking forward to it. Weather is fresh and dry too which is perfectly normal for winter time.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Dec 13th 2024, 12:55 PM

    @Marvin Dollery: Thank you for explaining that fresh and dry weather is normal for winter. If you hadn’t, how would we have known?

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    Mute HisMastersAlibi
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    Dec 13th 2024, 1:24 PM

    @Marvin Dollery: Tell me this Frank,what department do you work at in The Journal ?

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    Mute Marvin Dollery
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    Dec 13th 2024, 1:54 PM

    @HisMastersAlibi: I think you meant to address that to Brenda. I wouldn’t work for such a lefty organisation.

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    Mute Sun Rise
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    Dec 13th 2024, 7:20 PM

    @Marvin Dollery: For somebody who does not like this ‘lefty organisation” you certainly appear to spend your days visiting this site and giving it click after click after click.

    You are a troll Marvin. Only a troll would behave as you do.

    Do you have the back bone to admit to being a troll? I doubt you do. Your type are weak.

    Go on Marvin, admit to it or are you too weak minded to do you? Do you lack the back bone little troll boy?

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    Mute HisMastersAlibi
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    Dec 13th 2024, 7:39 PM

    @Marvin Dollery: nah Frank,you are a plant,along with all the other names you comment under. It’s becoming clear you are part of the journal and its commitment in keeping a flow in the comments section for clicks. That’s what the journal needs as it sure is losing money. Ye should of sold it when ye had the opportunity. Who ever came up with this idea needs to be fired.

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    Mute Daniel Skelton
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    Dec 13th 2024, 12:56 PM

    If you’re in Kerry, drive down to the Dark Sky Reserve in Ballinskelligs. It’s quite far out, but absolutely worth it on a clear night! I was incredibly impressed at how well my Pixel 8 Pro was able to capture the sky with the Astrophotography feature.

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 13th 2024, 1:00 PM

    @Daniel Skelton: Anywhere from Caherdaniel to Waterville on a clear night is a pilots view of the universe. Absolutely astonishing!

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 13th 2024, 12:46 PM

    Clouds are being bussed in from overseas right now…

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    Mute Nick Bowie
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    Dec 13th 2024, 1:22 PM

    What direction?

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    Mute Mike Finnegan
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    Dec 13th 2024, 1:33 PM

    @Nick Bowie: Up, I think…

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    Mute James Roche
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    Dec 13th 2024, 4:36 PM

    @Mike Finnegan: very good…

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    Mute A D
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    Dec 13th 2024, 6:04 PM

    @Nick Bowie: “The Geminids will appear to originate from a point in the south east.” (quote from astronomy Ireland.)
    (They’re named after the gemini constellation, from which they appear to originate.)

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    Mute Jerry LeFrog
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    Dec 13th 2024, 4:41 PM

    Will look up, but is the meteor shower going to be above or below the clouds? Existential question

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    Mute Me Me
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    Dec 13th 2024, 4:31 PM

    Unfortunately it’s cloudy where I am. But a few years ago (2018? 19?) I counted 27 in about 20 minutes. It was fantastic. And bloody cold!

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