Public sex, racial abuse and drug dealing among thousands of complaints texted to Irish Rail last year

Irish Times

6 hours ago

Racial and homophobic abuse, drug dealing and sexual harassment were among the complaints submitted by
Irish Rail
users through its antisocialsocial behaviour text alert service last year.
A total of 4,249 texts were sent to the service in 2024, according to a log of complaints released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
An average of nearly 12 complaints were made through the anonymous service every day, though many texts related to the same incident.
The number of incidents deemed to 'pose a risk of harm to customers or staff' stood at 29 per million customers in the most recently available quarter.
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Complaints about drunk passengers and 'loud music' made frequent appearances in the service log.
More than 200 reports related to drug consumption or dealing, many of which were reporting the non-confrontational use of illegal substances, though some were more serious.
'There is two parents doing cocaine with their baby in a pram in front of them,' one rail user reported.
Reports of sexual offence were also constant throughout the year, from sexual aggression to sexual harassment and a number of reports of sexual assault. One complaint reported a couple performing 'sexual acts openly' between carriages.
There were multiple reports of 'drug dealers' using train bathrooms to perform drug drops or to meet customers, as well as complaints of railway stations being used as drug meetup points fordrug users.
Other users of the service reported serious issues such as domestic violence, with one report of a man abusing a partner and threatening to 'smash her head in, break her legs, throw her under train' all within earshot of children.
There was a report that people at Howth Junction Train Station were attempting to sell a 'small brown dog' for €15.
Adam Conway (25), who frequently travels by train to Dublin from Laois, has experienced physical violence from a group of young men on a late train home – he says such journeys often have a 'very uncomfortable' environment and there are often drunk and disorderly people.
He recently used the antisocial behaviour text line to report an incident in which an 'aggressive' man was racially abusing and insulting passengers. Security did not arrive to address the situation while he was on board.
Racist, sexist and other types of discriminatory abuse were common among last year's complaints, with racial abuse being mentioned the most. There was nearly one such complaint every week.
Mr Conway said that despite the negative experiences, he has found the staff and customer service on Irish Rail to be 'extremely helpful' in dealing with other, non-urgent issues.
'When you text the word 'Train' to 51444, that message is sent to a bunker of Howth Junction Dart Station which is manned by security officers,' said Mark Gleeson, a spokesperson for Rail Users Ireland, the representative body for rail passengers.
'They have significantly increased the number of security patrols,' Mr Gleeson said of Irish Rail but noted that the problem with the service is that when you send in a message 'you are a moving target'.
'Getting the security resources [in time] to attend an incident and pick up an individual is very unlikely,' he said, noting that it is only in 'extreme cases' that gardaí will be called to issues on trains.
'The biggest problem we have got is that stations are unstaffed, which causes a lot of fear for passengers. It is not like Luas stations, which are mostly open and public. Most of the train stations are in cut-ins, they are dark, they have got bridges over them and they are walled in.'
Train platforms are frequently identified as locations for antisocial behaviour. One rail user complained of two children 'driving a motorised scooter' on Howth platform, saying they had 'crashed into several passengers'. Another rail user was attacked and robbed on a platform at Howth Junction.
The majority of incidents, however, took place on trains themselves.
Irish Rail said the 'vast majority of the 50.1 million journeys on our service – including 34.7 million in the Dublin commuter area covered by the text alert service – take place without incident, but we will continue to prioritise prevention of incidents, and rapid response working with our partners.'
The statement continued: 'Our text line is just one of the measures we have in place to address antisocial behaviour: as a societal issue to which we are not immune, we have a range of proactive and preventative measures and response measures in place, working with our own team, our private security contractors and An Garda Síochána.'
Irish Rail said it has 'consistently expanded' its security presence in recent years.
Software engineer Ankish Raj Prajapati (25) said he recently boarded a carriage that was 'covered in blood and broken glass bottles' following an antisocial incident.
Mr Prajapati was with his parents who had come to visit him in Dublin for the first time, and although the group did not witness the incident first-hand, he described it as a 'very horrific experience'.
He said he is less likely to use the Dart than other public transport as a result.
'Especially at night, the Darts feel worse than other public transport,' he said, noting that after an increase in security presence, the Luas feels safer.