International graffiti "gangs" had been targeting public transport in Dublin over the last 18 months and some €2 million has been spent by Irish Rail "rectifying trains" targeted by the artists, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has said.
Tim Gaston, the NTA's director of public transport services, said the gangs were "coming to Ireland specifically for the purpose of getting their social media hits".
“Irish Rail and their security have worked very closely with the gardaí and they have apprehended some groups,” he told Dublin City Council’s joint policing committee on Tuesday.
Mr Gaston added a number of the graffiti artists arrested were expected to be brought before the courts in the future but that “over the last two years we’ve spent over €2 million” in removing graffiti from trains.
The NTA also revealed violent and anti-social incidents on the Luas lines in the city spiked during Covid-19 when fewer passengers were using the services and when they were more “exposed” to the influence of troublemakers.
On the issue of crime and violence in the capital, the Garda has also revealed most crime types in the city remain much lower than pre-pandemic levels, though assaults causing harm were now increasing.
Those attacks are more serious, and involve a greater level of injury to victims, than so-called common assaults. News they have bucked the trend of generally lower crime follows a number of high-profile attacks, including suspected homophobic assaults, in Dublin’s inner city.
The latest Garda data, supplied to Dublin City Council’s joint policing committee, shows assaults causing harm were nine per cent higher in the first four months of this year compared with the same period in 2019.
Assistant Commissioner Anne Maire Cagney, who is in charge of policing in the Dublin region and was making her last appearance before retiring, said burglaries in the capital were still 44 per cent lower than in 2019.
Drug-driving increase
However, aggravated burglaries – meaning weapons or force being used – were up by 19 per cent; 32 cases in the first four months of this year compared to 27 in the same period of 2019.
Minor assaults were down 16 per cent, theft from vehicles was down 40 per cent, thefts and robberies from the person – including muggings – were down by 47 per cent and 34 per cent respectively while drug dealing was down by 22 per cent
While drink driving was largely static, there had been a near four-fold increase in drug driving detections; some 293 cases in the first four months of this year in Dublin compared to 78 in the same period in 2019. Ms Cagney said the increase was attributable to more drug testing being conducted.
Mr Gaston said the Luas service in Dublin “had a particularly difficult time last year” with anti-social behaviour during the pandemic period.
“It was largely due to the absence on the Luas at the peak of Covid. During the lockdowns and so on Luas was very open and very exposed,” he said. “So, unfortunately, fewer customers around, ironically, brought an increase in anti-social behaviour.”
He added increased security was put in place while there were also more checks on passengers to catch those travelling without tickets, as much of the trouble was linked to fare evaders. Both of those measures combined to bring down the number of incidents.
Furthermore, new a new feature on the Luas app was being created to allow a passenger report a problem in real time. The app would automatically log and report the location of the Luas tram and the direction of travel.
Overall, anti-social and violent incidents were decreasing on Irish Rail services after a major security push by the company working with the Garda and CCTV systems were extended. On Dublin Bus, the main anti-social activity remained stone-throwing by children of national school age, Mr Gaston said.
