Some public transport services have become "drug corridors", the boss of the National Bus and Rail Union has said.
The comments were made during a Prime Time segment on the anti-social issues facing Dublin's public transport. Horrifying incidents such as a young girl falling under a train at Howth Junction DART station have occurred in recent times.
NBRU General Secretary Dermot O'Leary said a garda division dedicated to transport was needed to stop anti-social behaviour. He said: "Lots of crime, lots of drug taking [and] some services are now drug corridors.
Read more: 'Dangerous unruly behaviour too commonplace' on public transport, Dublin TD says
"Yet, every time we call for help from the people who should be helping i.e. Government and the agencies that run transport, we hit a wall. It is a major problem here.
"The VTR showed security on some services. Security don't have the powers of detention and arrest. In some cases they are actually checking tickets - that's not the security person's job.
"Unless we have a dedicated garda public transport division across transport, the people you saw in the VTR behaving despicably will carry on and their will be more coming behind them.
"The only way you are going to stop crime is to put gardai in the middle between the people who are perpetrating the crime and the people who are working - and not only the people who are working, the people that travel."
Mr O'Leary was critical of the Government's failure to introduce a garda transport division - especially when they are trying to get more people using public transport. He said: "We have a Green Party in Government, we have a Green Party Transport Minister, we are tying to encourage people to use public transport [but] who is going to use public transport after watching that.
"The people who use it today are walking away from it. How are we going to get more people on there?"
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