SIPTU demands transport police force

SIPTU have called on the Government to establish a transport police force to combat rising levels on violence on trains and buses around the country.

There is only one solution to that problem, and that is the establishment of a transport police force, similar to that which exists in many European countries, with statutory powers of arrest. Mr Tony Tobin

Delegates at the union’s railway branch conference in Ennis, Co Clare were told that attacks on staff and members of the public had risen over recent years.

Mr Tony Tobin, branch secretary, said Tara Street Station had now become particularly dangerous, adding that SIPTU had been lobbying successive governments for 20 years for increased security.

"There is only one solution to that problem, and that is the establishment of a transport police force, similar to that which exists in many European countries, with statutory powers of arrest," he said.