Irish Rail says anti-social behaviour on board trains 'concerns us greatly' amid security update

The number of anti-social incidents is a subject of great concern for Irish Rail, however, a spokesperson has said they have not seen an increase.

The problem of hijinx on board is a long-standing issue that is being met head on by officials, who have put a number of safe guards in place.

This weekend alone, there were reportedly a number of issues across separate trains, according to the transport provider.

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Jane Cregan of Irish Rail told Midwest Radio this morning that despite these incidents, there hasn't been a significant rise in anti-social behaviour on their services.

Ms. Cregan highlighted the ongoing efforts they are making to discourage any anti-social behaviour on board their trains.

"Anti-social behaviour is something that we monitor very closely and it's something that concerns us greatly," she said.

"There were a couple of incidents over the weekend but we haven't seen a major increase (in anti-social behaviour) from our stats from 2021 to 2022."

"What we are doing is we have a dedicated security office now where we work very closely with the gardai, and we have set up rapid garda response hubs around the country so that if we do have an instance of anti-social behaviour on board we can quickly contact local gardai in the area."

"This has been very effective in dealing with anti-social behaviour."

Alcohol remains banned on-board but in some cases, people do not obey those rules - and in some cases this is where issues arise.

"By and large the alcohol ban is observed but there can be instances where people do engage in taking alcohol when not permitted," Jane Cregan said.

"We have dedicated customer service officers on most of our services."

"In most instances when someone approached you and said alcohol is not permitted, the vast majority of people will stop drinking but then we can have instances where people refuse that and it can escalate."

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