Drug use, defecation and sexual assault: 4,300 messages sent to Irish Rail text line

Darragh McDonagh

Irish Rail received nearly 4,300 messages to its dedicated text line for reporting antisocial behaviour on train services last year, with passengers complaining about drug use, violence, sexual assault and indecent exposure.

The incidents reported in 2024 include a man defecating in the middle of a carriage, a fist fight involving a man and a woman, a passenger brandishing a sword, and a child being sexually assaulted.

The appalling insight into criminal and antisocial behaviour on the country’s rail network has prompted a government TD to call for a dedicated public transport unit of An Garda Síochána.

Records released under freedom of information laws suggest that drugs are regularly being openly abused on train services, with children even observed smoking cannabis on the Dart in January of last year.

In February, one commuter texted Irish Rail to report a couple openly using cocaine on a train service with their baby in a pram in front of them, while a man on a train near Killiney last May was reported to have removed his trousers while smoking cannabis.

Alcohol consumption was also a recurring problem. On February 29th, a “violent, aggressive drunk man” was removed from a train at Clara, after which distressed passengers watched him “vomiting and trying to fight”.

In July, a passenger contacted Irish Rail to report that a 75-year-old man had exposed himself to a young girl on an afternoon train service. She was “visibly upset”, they added.

Similarly, a man on a train heading for Sydney Parade in Dublin last June was reported for “exposing his d**k”, and a man on a train at Booterstown was “exposing his bare arse to young girls” in January.

In May, passengers on a train at Howth Junction were shocked when a rock was thrown through the window, while one commuter reported that a group of “young lads” had been travelling on the outside of the train before jumping off at Lansdowne Road.

A man was reported to have defecated on a train in January and, in an unrelated incident, a passenger discovered “an actual bag of faeces” in the middle of a carriage in September while travelling to Bray.

There were a number of complaints about couples engaging in “sexually explicit acts” on trains. On October 11th, an individual reported that two fellow passengers were “openly fingering each other and making out”.

In late July, a passenger reported that a man and woman were punching each other on board a train, noting that “she had him in a headlock at one point”. The woman subsequently disembarked at Sandymount.

There were several complaints about the presence of blood on walls, windows and seats on carriages, as well as “puddles” of vomit on floors, and “dog poo” on some of the seats.

In August, a troubling text message reported that a child had been sexually assaulted by a group of adolescents on a train early in the evening. The child disembarked at Bayside station, according to the report.

There were frequent instances of racist abuse on train services last year. In March, it was reported that two males were racially abusing “a little boy” on a train, while a woman and her child were the targets of racist abuse near Connollly Station in September.

In August, a passenger was made to feel very uncomfortable by a man who was walking up and down the train dressed as a clown. In March, a man boarded a train to Maynooth with a sword, according to two reports.

On April 9th, a knife fight was reported on the Sligo-Dublin service around 11am, while a man “slapped” a girl during a “lovers’ quarrel” on the Howth train near Connolly Station in January.

A number of passengers who reported antisocial or criminal behaviour to Irish Rail via the text line said they had to get off the train for their own safety.

Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin described the incidents described in the text messages as “awful”, and said there was a need to expedite plans for public transport policing contained in the Programme for Government.

“What’s proposed at this stage is a standalone public transport service. My own preference would be that it would be a unit of An Garda Síochana,” he said.

“This is why we definitely need to have more monitors, more proactive and visible deterrents on public transport – on carriages and platforms. Nobody wants to see these awful elements, particularly for youngsters. We need to ensure they are safe.”

A spokesman for Irish Rail said antisocial behaviour was a societal issue to which train services were not immune, but added that there were a range of proactive and preventative measures in place to address it.

“The text line allows people to discreetly alert us to issues of concern, and is live monitored through our central security hub, who are in direct contact with our security teams on the network to coordinate response,” he explained.

“The vast majority of 50.1 million journeys on our network take place without incident, but we will continue to prioritise prevention of incidents, and rapid response working with our partners.”