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17th May 2021

Irish Rail investigating leaking of CCTV footage of violent disorder incident at Howth Junction

Alan Loughnane

Irish rail video

“Customers have a right to expect that station CCTV is used for their safety and security…”

Irish Rail has said it is investigating how a video of alleged violent disorder at Howth Junction DART station in Dublin was leaked and spread on social media following the incident.

The rail service has said it has reported the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner and said customers had a right to expect station CCTV to be used for their safety and security and not to be leaked like the aforementioned video.

“Customers have a right to expect that station CCTV is used for their safety and security, and to assist investigations, not to be distributed in an unauthorised manner,” Irish Rail said.

“While our foremost priority is to assist the Gardaí in ensuring those responsible are brought to justice, we are also investigating the unauthorised distribution of this footage, and have reported the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner.”

The video, which was shared widely on social media over the last number of weeks, is from 1 April and shows a young woman being knocked onto the rail tracks in the gap between the platform and the train stopped in the DART station.

She did not suffer serious injuries and was pulled onto the platform by onlookers and a member of Irish Rail staff.

The video also shows a number of youths lunging, kicking and attempting to spit at women hurrying by on the platform before the woman is ultimately knocked onto the tracks.

Three teenagers, one aged 13 and two aged 16 years, were arrested in connection with the incident last week and five premises were also searched.

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