Members of a planned new public transport security service are to be given powers of arrest and pursuit.
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport that significant legislation would be needed to underpin the initiative, which would run across trains, buses and trams.
It would not be “another An Garda Síochána” but would instead be modelled on the existing airport police service.
However, O’Brien said there were other considerations that had to be considered, including that the airport police operated in a specific defined area and campus.
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“I intend the transport security force will have powers of arrest and pursuit,” he told Wednesday’s committee. “But they will work closely with An Garda Síochána because there is only one police force in the Republic.”
Some sources suggested that members of the new force could, for example, pursue individuals from a Luas tram and detain them until the arrival of gardaí.
The Minister said it was envisaged that such an agency would be centrally managed by the National Transport Authority.
However, he warned that the work involved in establishing the new security force for the transport sector would be “complex”.
He said there would be “significant legislative work required” and that the Oireachtas transport and justice committees would be heavily involved in the process.
“There are existing bylaws that will need to be consolidated too. I hate using the word complex. That seems like a reason not to do it tomorrow – but it is complex,” he said.
“But a lot of work has happened within the department. We have to land on the exact model but it will be centrally controlled through the National Transport Authority.”
O’Brien said the Department of Transport and the Department of Justice were “aligned” on the issue. A commitment to establish a new transport security force is set out in the Programme for Government agreed last year between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Government sources said on Wednesday that the Minister’s comments set out the “direction of travel” for the legislation to underpin its establishment.
