Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan announced the necessity for a new transport police to have powers of arrest, aligning with commitments outlined in the Programme for Government.
This initiative includes the creation of a Transport Security Force under the National Transport Authority, mirroring the powers of airport police and customs officers.
O’Callaghan acknowledged the public transport safety concerns experienced in Dublin and across Ireland, particularly highlighting issues of safety late in the evening.
While he stated that establishing the transport police is a priority, O’Callaghan did not provide a timeline and mentioned recruitment for this force will occur separately from the ongoing Garda recruitment efforts.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan shared “I think it is important that we put in place a transport police that has proper powers. By that I mean unless they have the powers to arrest, it’s not really a functioning or effective transport police, but it is something that Minister O’Brien and myself will be working. “The reason why we want to bring it forward is that there was experience, not just in Dublin, but throughout the country, of people finding themselves on public transport and not feeling safe, particularly late in the evening.
The recruitment of transport police will be separate to the garda recruitment targets of 1,000 a year. We’ve to set up the transport police in the first place. But it is going to be challenging, there’s no doubt about that. “In many respects, we’re victims of our own success in Ireland, we’ve such a vibrant economy. We’re such a successful economy, that it is hard to attract people into the traditional jobs. There’s such options out there for other work. We keep doing this. It’s a great job. It’s a job worth doing.”
