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Irish Times
5 days ago
- Irish Times
Public sex, racial abuse and drug dealing among thousands of complaints texted to Irish Rail last year
Racial and homophobic abuse, drug dealing and sexual harassment were among the complaints submitted by Irish Rail users through its antisocialsocial behaviour text alert service last year. A total of 4,249 texts were sent to the service in 2024, according to a log of complaints released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act. An average of nearly 12 complaints were made through the anonymous service every day, though many texts related to the same incident. The number of incidents deemed to 'pose a risk of harm to customers or staff' stood at 29 per million customers in the most recently available quarter. READ MORE Complaints about drunk passengers and 'loud music' made frequent appearances in the service log. More than 200 reports related to drug consumption or dealing, many of which were reporting the non-confrontational use of illegal substances, though some were more serious. 'There is two parents doing cocaine with their baby in a pram in front of them,' one rail user reported. Reports of sexual offence were also constant throughout the year, from sexual aggression to sexual harassment and a number of reports of sexual assault. One complaint reported a couple performing 'sexual acts openly' between carriages. There were multiple reports of 'drug dealers' using train bathrooms to perform drug drops or to meet customers, as well as complaints of railway stations being used as drug meetup points fordrug users. Other users of the service reported serious issues such as domestic violence, with one report of a man abusing a partner and threatening to 'smash her head in, break her legs, throw her under train' all within earshot of children. There was a report that people at Howth Junction Train Station were attempting to sell a 'small brown dog' for €15. Adam Conway (25), who frequently travels by train to Dublin from Laois, has experienced physical violence from a group of young men on a late train home – he says such journeys often have a 'very uncomfortable' environment and there are often drunk and disorderly people. He recently used the antisocial behaviour text line to report an incident in which an 'aggressive' man was racially abusing and insulting passengers. Security did not arrive to address the situation while he was on board. Racist, sexist and other types of discriminatory abuse were common among last year's complaints, with racial abuse being mentioned the most. There was nearly one such complaint every week. Mr Conway said that despite the negative experiences, he has found the staff and customer service on Irish Rail to be 'extremely helpful' in dealing with other, non-urgent issues. 'When you text the word 'Train' to 51444, that message is sent to a bunker of Howth Junction Dart Station which is manned by security officers,' said Mark Gleeson, a spokesperson for Rail Users Ireland, the representative body for rail passengers. 'They have significantly increased the number of security patrols,' Mr Gleeson said of Irish Rail but noted that the problem with the service is that when you send in a message 'you are a moving target'. 'Getting the security resources [in time] to attend an incident and pick up an individual is very unlikely,' he said, noting that it is only in 'extreme cases' that gardaí will be called to issues on trains. 'The biggest problem we have got is that stations are unstaffed, which causes a lot of fear for passengers. It is not like Luas stations, which are mostly open and public. Most of the train stations are in cut-ins, they are dark, they have got bridges over them and they are walled in.' Train platforms are frequently identified as locations for antisocial behaviour. One rail user complained of two children 'driving a motorised scooter' on Howth platform, saying they had 'crashed into several passengers'. Another rail user was attacked and robbed on a platform at Howth Junction. The majority of incidents, however, took place on trains themselves. Irish Rail said the 'vast majority of the 50.1 million journeys on our service – including 34.7 million in the Dublin commuter area covered by the text alert service – take place without incident, but we will continue to prioritise prevention of incidents, and rapid response working with our partners.' The statement continued: 'Our text line is just one of the measures we have in place to address antisocial behaviour: as a societal issue to which we are not immune, we have a range of proactive and preventative measures and response measures in place, working with our own team, our private security contractors and An Garda Síochána.' Irish Rail said it has 'consistently expanded' its security presence in recent years. Software engineer Ankish Raj Prajapati (25) said he recently boarded a carriage that was 'covered in blood and broken glass bottles' following an antisocial incident. Mr Prajapati was with his parents who had come to visit him in Dublin for the first time, and although the group did not witness the incident first-hand, he described it as a 'very horrific experience'. He said he is less likely to use the Dart than other public transport as a result. 'Especially at night, the Darts feel worse than other public transport,' he said, noting that after an increase in security presence, the Luas feels safer.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Oasis fans have been branded rowdy, middle-aged and fat. At least they're not boring
Oasis fans are drunk, middle-aged and fat, according to secret documents written by Edinburgh council ahead of the band's three sold-out reunion concerts at Murrayfield Stadium in August. 'Medium to high intoxication' is to be expected among the 'rowdy' fans, the documents warn, while the large proportion of 'middle-aged men' in the audience will 'take up more room' than average. The comments, obtained by a newspaper under Freedom of Information laws, drew the ire of Liam Gallagher. 'Quite frankly your attitude f—ing stinks,' the Oasis frontman told the council on X. 'I'd leave town that day if I was any of you lot.' I haven't always agreed with Liam. This is, after all, the man who said that he might be God, and once described SpongeBob SquarePants as 'mad for it'. But in this instance the 52-year-old is correct. Edinburgh council's attitude stinks because rowdy fans are precisely what the first Oasis concerts in 16 years need. More than that, they are what live music needs. Not only are unruly audiences the most fun to be part of, but they provide a vivid counterbalance to the sea of tranquillity – people holding their phones aloft, heads gently bobbing – that mars most concerts these days. The first thing to say is that Edinburgh council are simply doing what all councils do. Speaking to a concert insider this morning, such due diligence on a large crowd is 'absolutely normal'. Venues, councils and other bodies get together to form a Safety Action Group, which identifies potential issues in written reports. Audiences are ranked on their likely levels of drinking, rowdiness, age and so on. 'The issue here is that Edinburgh has been caught out,' the insider says. The council's assertion that 'middle-aged men… take up more room' comes with an interesting side question. Most stadiums allow between 0.35 and 0.4m square per person to calculate safe numbers on a pitch, my insider says. Will the Oasis venues allow more space per person to take account of fans' middle-aged spread? Stand By Me, the band once sang. 'If my beer belly doesn't get in the way' might be an appropriate next line. And, yes, the council does have legitimate cause for concern. Oasis fans' behaviour deteriorated as the band's career progressed. By the early-2000s, prior to their eventual split in 2009, wee-throwing among the crowd was on the increase (deposited into a plastic pint cup and spun through the air – I'm not condoning it, it's gross); some fans took to wearing ponchos to protect themselves. I once pulled pints at an Oasis concert in Finsbury Park in 2002. The fans were ghastly. But let's do a fag-packet age analysis here. If those fans were in their twenties then – a reasonable expectation if they were teenagers during Oasis's 1994-1997 imperial phase – they will be in their mid-to-late forties now. You'd hope they'd be beyond the 'Catherine Wheel of p–ss' shenanigans today. Yes, they've got more money to spend – a recent survey by Barclays predicted that the average Oasis fan will spend a whopping £75.20 on pre-concert food and drink – but they'll also want to be tucked up in bed within an hour of the encore. There might even be a babysitter to relieve. How dangerous can they be? Ahh, I hear you say, but what about their older offspring? A whole new generation of Oasis fans exists out there, having grown up with the sound of their dad's Definitely Maybe CD wafting up from the kitchen stereo. Will this younger cohort pick up the boorish gauntlet that their parents laid down decades ago? I'm not sure. Gen Z are impeccably behaved compared to their parents. They drink less and hate crowds – I'd be surprised if they caused the havoc that their parents once did. A friend of the band had a slightly different take when I chatted last week. He reckons that, contrary to the above, older Oasis fans will be keen to recreate the mayhem of their youth – but their behaviour will be tempered by the presence of their children. 'Like a football match, you hope the presence of enough kids will calm it,' he said. But whoever misbehaves, I'm all for it. Gigs are far too sedate these days. People's obsession with filming things means they're more interested in bragging on Instagram that they were there than actually enjoying the show as it happens. Oasis's music is perfectly suited to disorderly in-the-moment euphoria. The band's album and song titles say it all: Be Here Now, Stay Young, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Rock 'N' Roll Star. One of the most fun crowds I've ever been part of was for a band not dissimilar to the Oasis of 2025. In December 1991, the Ramones played O2 Brixton Academy. Like Oasis, the US punk band were a loud, brash and middle-aged heritage act. Joey, Johnny and Marky Ramone were actually a decade or so younger than Liam and Noel are today. But the crowd was full of barrel-chested older men bouncing around as if their lives depended on it. At one point, in the thick of the moshpit, I slipped and fell. A plump hand reached down and yanked me up. I was clapped on the back by a man who looked like a fat Lovejoy in a grandad sweater. He checked I was OK and bounded off. Legend. And then there was Pulp last week. The audience was the same age as the Oasis fans will be. The band came on early and played Disco 2000 before 9pm. The place went bananas. And they were in bed by midnight. Let the middle-aged chaos begin.
ABC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Drone deliveries aren't attracting many complaints but experts say that's not a sign of public endorsement
A lack of complaints from the public has been cited as a reason why 'drone delivery' services should be allowed to expand in Australia — but experts say the reason there was just three complaints last year is because the system is so difficult to navigate. Someone who felt spied on while in the bath as drones flew overhead 28 times in just three hours was among the very few complainants who navigated the bureaucratic nightmare to lodge objections to pilot projects for drone delivery above the suburbs. Despite there being an estimated 3 million drones in Australia, in 2024 there were only three complaints about general drone noise to the government department that regulates it. Previously-secret documents show the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) pushed to reduce restrictions and hand-balled monitoring of drone noise to the Department of Infrastructure, which says in general the issue is "difficult to respond to". Noise is just one of the issues. One of Australia's foremost experts in the field, Julia Powles from the University of Western Australia (UWA), says the companies involved in drone delivery pilots want the sky for themselves. "The vision is to architect highway infrastructure across our sky scape," she says. Documents released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) system suggest that around sites where the deliveries are being trialled, the 'highway in the skies' may already be emerging. "I've been sitting in the bath and watched them through the window fly past with direct line of sight," wrote one complainant in Harrison in the ACT, about 15 kilometres north of Parliament House. "This frequent noise is incredibly disruptive and irritating. It also seems excessive!" Commercial services such as Google's Wing promise to deliver hot coffee and fast food from shopping centres to the suburbs. "Enjoy your latte, without the line," it promises. But the documents reveal the difficulty of complaining about drone noise from the services to the appropriate channel. Local and state governments have also been overridden by the Department of Infrastructure, which has taken control of regulation about drones and wants to see expansion in the sector. UWA associate professor Dr Powles says the number of complaints is being used as "a proxy of community tolerance" for drones — she describes it as a "poor metric", and that's probably an understatement. There are an estimated 3 million recreational drone owners in Australia, according to CASA's annual report, with an estimated additional 2.1 million people planning to buy a drone within the next year. Drone delivery trials have been held in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland. But in the first years of operation there was confusion about who was responsible for complaints about noise from the operations. "Do you go to your city council? Do you go to the federal government? Do you go to the state? And actually, the Department of Infrastructure didn't even know that it was responsible in the first instance," Dr Powles says. People trying to complain about a drone, particularly noise, quickly find themselves in a morass of laws and buck-passing: For Dr Powles, the confusing system throws up two problems. "One, how do you even complain? And the second, how do you complain about what the ambition of these companies, which is to be able to operate at a scale that is commercially valuable." She says for the systems to make a profit it will require tens of thousands of drones over Australian cities In 'back-pocket notes' prepared ahead of a Senate Estimates hearing, the Department of Infrastructure says the increase in drones and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) "may lead to greater impacts on the community (e.g. noise, security and privacy concerns), which need to be managed appropriately to enable the positive social and economic benefits". In response to questions from the ABC, the department says it "works with a range of stakeholders to ensure community feedback about drone delivery operations is captured and considered, even where complaints are not made directly to the department". Wing, which is owned by Google's parent company, did not respond to a request for comment. The documents bear out the difficulty of making complaints about small devices travelling through the sky at high speed, which disperse noise over a great distance. For example, the City of Logan — the fastest growing area of Brisbane and home to almost 400,000 people — received zero complaints about the drone trial for the six months from October 2023. The Department of Infrastructure logged nine complaints about noise from different trial sites, taking the total to 98 since 2020. Last year it received three complaints about general drone noise. Not that it matters, because the department struggles to do anything about it. "General noise complaints are difficult to respond to," the Department of Infrastructure wrote, in an internal document about the 'drone noise framework'. Responding to the bathtub complaint mentioned at the top of this report, a Department of Infrastructure staffer [whose name is redacted in the documents] apologises and suggests it is unlikely that Wing was responsible for the noise because "Wing has ceased its delivery service in the ACT". They suggest it is more likely a drone used for construction or emergency services, saying they are a "critical element in almost every aspect of emergency operations, e.g. policing". "It is possible that the drone you heard was not Wing's and unfortunately it is not possible for us, based on the information you provided, to confirm the purpose of the drone flights you saw." But in subsequent emails, it becomes clear the drones were from Wing. "I can confirm we were flying at the times noted, so it's likely the noise feedback is regarding our drones," a Wing staff member emailed. "We're going to review the routing in that area and explore adjustments that will likely reduce some of the overflight the resident reached out about." Jake Goldenfein is a law and technology scholar at Melbourne Law School and an chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. "It's a very unusual situation where people would be complaining about noise directly to a federal department," he says. "If you're going to complain about noise, you would complain to the state level Environment Protection Authority (EPA) or the state police or your local council." Dr Goldenfein says the Department of Infrastructure, which has taken control of drone regulation, wants to see expansion in the sector. "The regulation is trying to build a new market for drone delivery services," he says. "It needs to do that in a way that takes into account what the industry actors are capable of doing and what they want. "So yes, industry absolutely has a big say in what the law looks like when it comes to these kinds of technology products." In email correspondence regarding noise approvals, CASA outlines a meeting between it, Wing and the department. CASA wants "further detail" on how Wing is engaging with operators such as other airfields and for the company to establish "agreements/understanding with the operators to communicate and deconflict". But when it asked about interactions between the company and the department "with regards to noise considerations for Melbourne operations" the discussions ended with a question — "is this a federal or local consideration with regards to existing operating restrictions?" No answer was forthcoming in the documents. But the agency was clear — it's not us. Responding to questions, CASA reiterated that it has "no role in noise" regarding drones and is a safety regulator that doesn't touch on privacy or environmental issues. However it does host educational resources and, if followed, its safety rules would work to reduce drone noise. In 2024 CASA laid 12 fines, of between $825 and $1,565, to people who breached laws concerning drones, such as flying over populated or prohibited areas. Responding to questions about drone delivery services, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts said operators are required to provide the department with information about noise complaints as a condition of their approval. "[Additionally] before a new drone delivery operation starts in an area, the department reaches out to the affected local council(s) to inform them of the department's role and to request that they forward any noise related complaints to us. Dr Goldenfein says by drawing focus to the issue of drone noise we're missing the larger picture, because they will get quieter. "Noise kind of became the only thing that communities could complain about. It was the only thing that there was a clear process by which communities could engage with," he says. He describes the shape of the delivery trials as "quite strategic" as an effort to channel public concerns about drones to be simply about noise. As Julia Powles reflects, there are bigger issues on the horizon. "I think there are very few people who'd say that what we really need is to elevate the problems of our terrestrial traffic to the sky."
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Councillor welcomes watchdog's investigation over Bradford Live settlement term
A COUNCILLOR has welcomed the Information Commissioner's Office investigation into Bradford Council's refusal to share details of the agreed settlement terms between Bradford Live and NEC Group. Last September, it was revealed that the Birmingham-based NEC Group had quit the £50.5 million taxpayer-funded Bradford Live project. At the time, a joint statement from Bradford Council and the NEC Group said: "Bradford Council and the NEC Group have agreed settlement terms to release NEC from the contract that was in place for them to operate the venue." The T&A subsequently asked the Council questions about the agreed settlement terms under the Freedom of Information Act - but the authority repeatedly declined to provide answers. The T&A therefore lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office in January, believing that the public has a right to know more about the agreed settlement terms. This week, the Information Commissioner's Office confirmed it had launched an investigation over the matter. Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, welcomed the news. She told the T&A: "My colleagues and I have been calling for transparency regarding this site for several years now, particularly since it became apparent that the final cost to various taxpayer-funded budgets was double the original budget at over £50m. "Specifically in relation to the exit settlement for the NEC Group, we fully understand that there was a need for non-disclosure during and immediately after the negotiations to terminate the agreement, but due to the passage of time, it seems unlikely that the release of the information continues to pose any real threat to the commercial interests of either organisation." A Bradford Council spokesperson said in response: "We welcome the news that the Information Commissioner's Office has now assigned a case officer, in fact as a Council we have been pressing for this for some time. "We have nothing to hide but it is for the Information Commissioner's Office to determine what can be published. "Local political party leaders know the legal position and why the Council can't say anything further on the matter - they too are bound by commercial confidentiality having been briefed on the matter. "Bradford Live was supported by the people of Bradford and saved by the Council - it is a world-class venue with a quality operator in the driving seat. "We're delighted to have done this for the people of Bradford district." A new operator, Trafalgar Entertainment, was appointed for Bradford Live in February.
CNN
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
5 things to know for May 22: Embassy shooting, Budget cuts, Trump-Ramaphosa meeting, Qatar jet, Police reform
Should the Department of Government Efficiency be required to release public records under the Freedom of Information Act, or can it keep such files hidden due to executive privilege? That's the question the Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to decide. What is known is that in the past four months, DOGE has fired more than 120,000 federal workers, slashed agency budgets, accessed sensitive computer systems and cut billions in research grants, prompting a wave of federal lawsuits. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Get '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed while standing outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, last night. Authorities say the suspected gunman was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before opening fire on a group of people. He then entered the building and waited to be detained. Police said the 30-year-old man showed officers where to find the weapon and chanted 'Free Free Palestine' while in custody. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were a young couple who soon planned to get engaged, according to Israel's ambassador to the US. 'I am devastated by the scenes in Washington D.C.,' Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement on X. 'This is a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy.' The House voted early this morning to pass President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, a major victory for the president and Speaker Mike Johnson after GOP leaders won over key holdouts. The legislation still faces major challenges ahead. It will next go to the Senate, where Republicans in the chamber have signaled they plan to make their own changes to it. Although all of the details about the massive legislative package have not yet been released, it does include: Nearly $1 trillion in cuts from Medicaid and food stamps Work requirements for Medicaid starting at the end of 2026 Raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion Spending $150 billion on defense programs Limiting judges' power to hold the Trump administration in contempt Phasing out Biden-era energy tax credits sooner than planned Increasing the state and local tax deduction Making trillions of dollars of income tax breaks permanent Allocating $45 billion to build new immigration detention facilities Allowing certain taxpayers to deduct income from tips on tax returns The Congressional Budget Office said the bill will increase the budget deficit by $3.8 trillion between 2026-2034. Fans of President Trump's reality TV show 'The Apprentice' will likely not be surprised by how he's been treating world leaders in televised Oval Office meetings. In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and his staffers berated him for not wearing a suit and for not thanking Trump enough for the money the US has given to the war effort. When Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he went on a tirade about defending Canada militarily and then told the press to leave before Carney could respond. In his latest Oval Office event this week, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — who once served as Nelson Mandela's chief negotiator during talks to end White minority rule — with false claims about White South African farmers being victims of genocide. For his part, Ramaphosa pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn't raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar that President Trump plans to use as the next Air Force One. The controversial transfer has sparked a political furor, with both Democrats and Republicans opposing the luxury jet on ethical grounds. While details about its transfer have not yet been released, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Qatar was 'giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it's a great thing.' Earlier this week, sources said it was the Trump administration that had first approached Qatar about acquiring the Boeing 747. It's also unknown how much it'll cost to strip down the entire aircraft for surveillance and safety checks and then retrofit it to the required security specifications. The Trump administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements with several major US police departments. The agreements, called consent decrees, are used as a monitoring system at police departments where the Justice Department has found a pattern of misconduct. In court filings on Wednesday, the DOJ asked judges in Minnesota and Kentucky to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis. They were approved by a federal judge and enacted following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and the police killing of George Floyd. Double-checking the calendarMemorial Day weekend may mark the unofficial start of summer, but the Northeast and parts of the mid-Atlantic will be experiencing a rare May nor'easter. Some areas of New Hampshire and Vermont may even see snow. Rare side effect to be highlighted on vaccine packagingThe FDA is now requiring some Covid-19 vaccines to use expanded warning labels detailing a small risk for myocarditis. The vaccines' old labels already provided a warning about the heart condition. No NFL ban for controversial 'tush push'The nearly unstoppable running play was used to great success by the Philadelphia Eagles last year. Manny Pacquiao: I'm backThe Filipino will come out of retirement this summer to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship. In 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40. She knew him whenPeruvian TikToker Luciana Marquez traveled to Rome last year to meet a family friend. They recorded a TikTok video. Now, he's Pope Leo XIV. 10That's how many minutes a Lufthansa flight carrying 205 people went without a pilot last year after the co-pilot fainted while he was alone in the cockpit. 'These staff cuts and the potential budget cuts make the United States more at risk for a tsunami and earthquake, and they will have devastating impacts for coastal populations and the US economy.' — Corina Allen, who, like thousands of other probationary federal employees, was recently fired from her job as a manager at NOAA's National Weather Service Tsunami Program. Check your local forecast here>>> Oh baby, baby! Britney Spears' album, 'Oops! … I Did It Again,' turns 25 this year. To celebrate, Sony Music will release an expanded edition.
