Category: news

Irish Rail has received more than 900 complaints from train passengers concerning the behaviour of other passengers since 2015.

Data released under the Freedom of Information Act show issues reported by passengers include assault, theft and intimidation, vandalism, noise and smoking or drinking onboard.

There have been 326 compaints recorded so far this year, compared to 249 in all of 2016 and 347 in 2015.

Irish Rail said it intends to enhance staffing on trains for customer security, adding that it believes a begging scam involving the selling of tissues to passengers explains the increase in complaints this year.

By far the most frequest category of complaint was “disorderly passengers” which account for about 498 reports. Next was passenger intimidation, which made up about 227 complaints.

This was followed by vandalism, which was the subject of 122 complaints. Theft was reported 33 times while Irish Rail received 30 reports of assault.

In terms of routes, the Dart service in the Dublin area accounted for the highest number of passenger complaints, with 292.

After that, Irish Rail received 105 complaints concerning the Longford-M3 Parkway-Maynooth route. There were 84 reports of anti-social behaviour on the Galway route and 82 on the Cork route.

The Sligo route accounted for 62 complaints while the Dundalk-Drogheda commuter route accounted for 61.

Two passengers complained about fellow passengers breaking the alcohol and smoking policy, while five complaints were received over noise.

Irish Rail said a small number of passengers engage in anti-social behaviour but the company takes, and will take, a number of measures to tackle the problem.

“There were 42.8 million journeys on our network in 2016, and the overwhelming majority of these were made without incident,” the spokesman said.

“Our trains are equipped with high-quality CCTV which enables us to follow up incidents, including with gardaí.

Source Irish Times.

Construction is the biggest source of noise complaints in Dublin city for the first time since the property crash in 2007, according to the latest figures.
Building work accounted for more than 25% of the 435 complaints made to the city council last year.

There were 115 complaints about construction, compared to 103 in the general commercial category and 76 concerning commercial music.
Dublin 2, which includes Temple Bar, Grafton Street and Merrion Square, was the most complained about place in the city, with 101 complaints.

Dublin 8 was second with 57, while Dublin 15, which covers Blanchardstown, the quietest postal code, with only one complaint.
The annual report by the council’s Air Quality Monitoring and Noise Control Unit’s states that the “huge disparity” between Dublin 2 and other areas could be explained by the large number of bars and nightclubs in the area.
Construction now the top cause of noise complaints.

Building work was responsible for more than a quarter of complaints last year

Building work was responsible for more than a quarter of complaints last year

Construction is the biggest source of noise complaints in Dublin city for the first time since the property crash in 2007, according to the latest figures.

Building work accounted for more than 25% of the 435 complaints made to the city council last year.

There were 115 complaints about construction, compared to 103 in the general commercial category and 76 concerning commercial music.

Dublin 2, which includes Temple Bar, Grafton Street and Merrion Square, was the most complained about place in the city, with 101 complaints.

Dublin 8 was second with 57, while Dublin 15, which covers Blanchardstown, the quietest postal code, with only one complaint.

The annual report by the council’s Air Quality Monitoring and Noise Control Unit’s states that the “huge disparity” between Dublin 2 and other areas could be explained by the large number of bars and nightclubs in the area.

Noise caused by commercial premises usually involves music, noisy plant and equipment servicing buildings and early morning deliveries to shops.

The report says it does not deal with neighbour noise nuisance as this is dealt with by individuals themselves with advice from Environmental Health Officers.

Dublin 2 is also has the most air pollution complaints with 18 out of 145 received. Odours from food premises were the cause of many complaints.
However, the single biggest category of irritation was domestic burning, which provoked 33 complaints, including issues concerning newly installed flues on house extensions.

The report, to be discussed by councillors on the council’s Environment Committee, states that there were notices served on five premises under the Air Pollution Act during 2015 but no court proceedings took place that year.
Source: RTE and data from Dublin City Council.

A noise so loud, so continuous, so repeated, of such pitch or duration or occurring at such times that it gives a person reasonable cause for annoyance. Noise nuisance caused by neighbours makes up the vast majority of noise complaints received by local authorities in Ireland.