ATTACK HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR STAFFED TRAIN STATIONS - Brendan Ryan TD

A gang entered the train at Clongriffin station in North Dublin at around 10.30pm and began to threaten passengers while spray-painting the carriage. Irish Rail has described the incident as 'unprecedented'

At the Fingal Joint Policing Committee public meeting held in Balbriggan last month the issue of anti social behaviour and unstaffed train stains in the evenings was a major concern and raised by several people.

CLONGRIFFIN DART ATTACK HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR STAFFED TRAIN STATIONS

Brendan Ryan TD

Labour Party Dáil Spokesperson on Transport

Brendan Ryan, Labour Party TD for Dublin Fingal, has renewed his calls for all trains stations to be staffed after the attack on a Dart travelling to Malahide on Tuesday night.

Ryan “Last May I called on Minister Ross in the Dáil to prioritise the re-staffing of all train stations on the grounds of both reducing anti social and criminal behaviour and enabling people with disabilities to use the train services without having to schedule ahead of time to ensure stations will be staffed.

The Minister has not prioritised this and we saw a very visible result of this at Clongriffin when up to 20 youths stopped a Dart, spray painted over an entire carriage causing thousands of euro worth of damage, not to mention frightening the passengers and causing delays on the line.”

Ryan “I will be raising this matter with Minister Ross again and asking for an immediate plan to re-staff train stations on safety and access grounds. With a recovering economy this is a very small ask and one which needs to be delivered straight away”.