Irish Rail is increasing security patrols on board its services after drug use, indecent exposure, racial abuse, physical violence, and drunken behaviour were reported by train passengers last year.
More than 1,150 alerts were sent to the company’s antisocial behaviour text service during 2025, reporting incidents including passengers brandishing knives and drug users “shooting up” in carriages.
However, Irish Rail was unable to respond to a significant number of reports because security teams were “unavailable” or “on break” at the time of the incidents, according to records released under Freedom of Information laws.
Text alerts received last year included dozens of reports of open drug use on board train services around the country.
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A man was spotted smoking crack on a train at Sandycove in February, while a number of men on the Dublin to Galway service were observed “openly snorting” substances in a carriage.
Two people were seen “shooting up” heroin on a train near Killester in May, while someone else was reported for using a bong near Booterstown in March. In January, a man was spotted drinking whiskey and snorting “white powder” on a train near Bray.
In March, a group of Spanish passengers were seen “smoking weed” on board a train while allowing their dog to urinate in the carriage. Young people were seen inhaling nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” on a number of occasions.
More than 100 alerts explicitly involved alcohol last year. They included a complaint about a drunk man who was vaping, shouting, and groaning loudly on a train from Cork to Dublin in January.
Later the same month, two drunk men threatened to kill each other on a train from Dublin to Drogheda, while a “very disturbed” intoxicated woman threatened passengers on another service.
Security had to be called to remove a couple from a toilet on board a service that stopped at Howth Junction in March, while a passenger punched another man on a train in Clontarf the same month, breaking his nose.
In October, a woman on a train at Portlaoise was reported for shouting at “non-nationals”, threatening that she was going to get her shotgun.
A spokesman for Irish Rail said the company was in a position to arrange a response “in the vast majority of cases”, either through security teams, or staff based on board or at stations.
“We have been supported by the National Transport Authority to increase security patrols further in 2026,” he added.
“Security patrols and the text alert system are among a wide range of resources we have in place to both prevent and respond to incidents of antisocial behaviour, with the text alert offering customers a discreet means of reporting incidents.
“We also have proactive joint patrols regularly with gardaí, a series of rapid response hubs around the network with gardaí to enable on-board staff on Intercity services to liaise directly with customers, and specific event plans with gardaí and security.
“While the vast majority of over 55 million annual journeys on our network occur without incident, we are committed to ensuring we manage security and deploy resources to address what is a societal issue,” said the spokesman.
