Today Fianna Fáil launched their 2024 General Election manifesto, which outlined a number of plans to deal with law and order issues, including setting up a “dedicated transport police unit.”
“We will support safe, clean and successful communities through…Introducing a new transport police unit to focus on tackling anti-social behaviour,” the manifesto reads, with Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick adding that “Public transport should not be a space where crime can thrive unchallenged…With a dedicated transport police, we will ensure that our transit system becomes a safer, more secure environment for everyone.”
However, this is at least the fifth time that this plan has appeared in one of the party’s election manifestos.
In the party’s 2016 General Election manifesto, almost 9 years ago, Fianna Fáil said that their aim was to “Set up a Public Transport Police Section”, because “security issues on public transport are a serious issue in Dublin, particularly on the Luas services and late night bus services. Anti-social behaviour and intimidation are rife.”
While Fianna Fáil did not win that election, they entered a confidence and supply arrangement with the then-Fine Gael government, part of the terms of which were that Fine Gael would “recognise Fianna Fáil’s right to bring forward policy proposals and bills to implement commitments in its own manifesto.”
The party re-affirmed this pledge in 2017, with the party’s then-Dublin spokesman John Lahart saying that the “persistent public disorder” on public transport “must be tackled with a dedicated transport police.”
During the 2019 local election, the party also pledged to establish a “dedicated public transport Garda section”. In that election, they won the majority of seats in local authorities nationwide and became the biggest party in local government.
Subsequently, at the 2020 General Election, the party said it would “Set up a Public Transport Police section.”
“Reports of assaults and incidents of antisocial behaviour on public transport have risen over the past year, terrorising innocent passengers trying to make their way home,” the 2020 manifesto read.
“The prevalence and threat of violence is deterring users of public transport and is causing serious delays to public transport.
“We will introduce a specific public transport police within An Garda Síochána to protect public transport users. This new section would be tasked with a mandate to ensure a comfortable, safe and punctual experience for all public transport users.”
Subsequently, in the recent 2024 Local Election manifesto in May, the party said that it would “introduce a dedicated police force for public transport.”
Notably, in recent years anti-social behaviour on public transport has reached such critical levels that Dublin Bus has begun to hire private security guards to deal with incidents of disorder, which have doubled over the past 5 years.