Trade union leaders have renewed their call for a dedicated transport police unit in An Garda Síochána following a spate of Halloween night attacks on buses across the country.
These included one incident where a female driver was threatened with rape, and had to lock herself into the cab of the bus as youths kicked on the door.
National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) general secretary Dermot O'Leary said anti-social behaviour directed at staff in both Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann was becoming so frequent that drivers were no longer reporting all incidents.
“We’ve been campaigning for some time for a Garda public transport unit to be established and the spate of attacks which our members were subjected to on Halloween night highlights yet again the urgent need for such a unit to be established,” he said.
The spate of attacks on Dublin Bus workers in the capital, and Bus Éireann workers in Cork, Meath and Limerick as well as earlier incidents in Waterford, Wexford, Donegal and Athlone, led in many cases to the curtailment of services, said Mr O'Leary.
“The withdrawal and/or curtailment of public transport services because of the loutish behaviour we are witnessing on an almost daily basis is not fair on the hundreds and thousands of law abiding citizens that use these services,” he added.
Among the incidents reported to the NBRU was one in Cork where a female driver on the 220 Route to Carrigaline was threatened with assault and rape by a group of youths when she challenged them over their failure to pay their fares.
According to an NBRU source, a large group of teenagers got on the bus at Lisbourne in Carrigaline at around 10.10pm and barged upstairs without paying so the driver, a woman, left the cab and went upstairs and asked them to pay and told them the bus would not be moving until they paid.
The woman contacted the automatic vehicle location (AVL) supervisor and the Garda and within 15-18 minutes both were on the scene. During this time, the youths told her she would be “f***ed” and also threatened violence against her family, making signals as if firing a gun at her head.
The woman was also racially abused by the youths who were kicking on the door and banging on the screen of her cab after she locked herself into the cab and it took ten gardaí until 11.30pm to finally get the youths off the bus and clear the scene, according to the NBRU source.
No arrests were made at the scene but the matter has been reported to gardaí who have begun an investigation and it is understood that they will seek to view CCTV footage from cameras on the bus to identify all those involved in the incident.
The NBRU also reported a serious incident in Ashbourne in Co Meath when "a fireworks rocket" was fired at a bus when the doors was open and it subsequently exploded in the door well of the bus though without causing any injury.
In Dublin, Dublin Bus services were withdrawn on routes to Corduff, Cherry Orchard, Brookfield and Finglas after stones and fireworks were thrown at buses while services were also withdrawn from the UCD campus at Belfield due to aggressive behaviour from a large number of drunken students.
In Limerick, Bus Éireann withdrew services on some routes including Carew Park where a driver was pelted with eggs by people on board the bus while there were also egg and stone throwing incidents at O'Malley Park and Ballynanty and anti-social behaviour near University of Limerick.
Contacted by The Irish Times, Bus Éireann confirmed that an incident had occurred on the 220 service to Carrigaline in Cork on Halloween night and that Bus Éireann staff were assisting gardaí with their investigation.
“Our driver safety is paramount and our driver safety procedures were followed which resulted in a rapid response from An Garda Síochána, for which we thank them. We are fully supporting our driver at this time and are liaising with gardaí who are investigating this unacceptable incident.”
Dublin Bus confirmed in a statement that its 27 service which runs from Clare Hall on the city's northside to Jobstown on the southside was curtailed for a period "due to an anti-social behaviour".
