GRA head calls for more gardaí on Kent Station platforms

THE Cork-born head of the body representing garda members has called for more gardaí on the platforms in Kent Station in the city to act as a deterrent against drug trafficking, and drunk and abusive passengers.

Garda Damien McCarthy of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) said more gardaí are needed at bus and train stations around Cork and beyond at the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) two-day conference in Cork’s Maryborough House Hotel.

Organisers called for the formation of a special garda unit to be set up to protect bus and train drivers subject to violence and abuse.

Mr McCarthy said the idea of a dedicated unit “would take too long” and NBRU members “need a response now.” The Cork to Dublin rail line has been the scene of significant seizures of drugs and anti-social behaviour in recent years.

“We need more guards, whether on mountain bikes, or in cars or vans, or on platforms.

“That’s what we need urgently. There is a shortage of manpower on the ground, whether it’s at the local bus station, or railway line,” said Mr McCarthy, who is from Dunmanway.

Mr McCarthy said the GRA will do “everything in its power” to support the NBRU. Drugs on buses and trains “is a massive problem”, he added.

“The bus and railway network appear to be a magnet for criminal activity and anti-social behaviour.”

The level of violence directed at bus drivers is “appalling,” particularly at weekends and during night hours, he said.

He added there should be an “appropriate response” to abusive passengers, whether it be in Mallow, Charleville, and when the train arrives into Cork’s Kent train station so that the garda presence can be seen on the platform, said Mr McCarthy.

“That’s non-existent at the moment,” he said.