Spitting, assaults and racism: passengers lodge complaints about Cork trains

People have reported being spat at, assaulted, and subjected to racism on trains to and from Cork in the past year.

Incidents included three male passengers harassing a young girl, a group of men entering women’s bathrooms, and a man self-harming.

More than 25% of all the complaints were to do with passengers consuming alcohol, smoking, or vaping, with complaints about “extremely drunk and aggressive people” and “a horrible and scary situation”, according to the data from the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Of 13 complaints that mentioned vaping, one was a person expressing concern that a child was vaping, and another was a complaint about a staff member vaping on the train. Four complaints were also made about drug use.

There were also complaints about disruptive passengers, noisy passengers, and one person complained of “noise, loud music, shouting, roaring from youths”, with several complaints about music being played loudly.

Other complaints detailed intimidation, including assaults, with people saying there were fights on the train or at the Cork Kent train station.

One passenger said that they were asked for money and were then “abused and spat at”.

There were three reports of racism, including a racist sticker found in a bathroom, and instances of racism directed at Iarnród Éireann security staff.

A total of 119 complaints about antisocial behaviour were provided by the NTA on foot of a Freedom of Information request.

Cork’s Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), said that there were 50 or 60 different nationalities working in Irish Rail. “Some sections of society think it’s fair game to abuse someone because of their skin colour,” he said.

Mr O’Leary said that the NBRU has long been calling for a dedicated public transport police.

“People who work on trains are, by and large, customer-service people — they’re not security and they’re definitely not police.”

Many union members have had to move from customer service to other roles within IÉ because of “being assaulted, threatened with assault or regularly abused", he added.