He was responding to the huge increase in anti-social behaviour in the last two years.
National Bus and Rail Union general secretary Dermot O'Leary revealed that the union has called on Minister for Transport Shane Ross to establish a dedicated Transport Police, much like the similar system set in place in the UK.
Speaking to
RTE's This Week, the head of the NBRU claimed that in 2007 over 700 incidents of anti-social behaviour reported on Irish rail lines, compared to the 492 incidents reported in 2016.
This surge appears in continue to be on the rise, with over 300 incidents reported in the first five months of 2018 alone.
Additionally, Iarnród Éireann has recorded 20 separate assaults against employees since the beginning of 2017, with RTÉ reporting that one employee claiming that the reported incidents do not represent the full size of the problem.
The employee stated that he had been attacked several times himself within the last 18 months, including one incident in which both he and a fellow employee were followed by aggressive passengers for over an hour until gardaí intervened.
Employees believe that the reduction in staff in certain areas has led to this huge uptick in anti-social behaviour in the last two years, while O'Leary claims that if Minister Ross does nothing, it will soon reach a point where rail staff will begin to refuse on particular rail lines where the anti-social behaviour is at it's worst.
