A shocking report has revealed that there have been several complaints of serious racial abuse on Irish Rail's train and DART services in the last 18 months.
According to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, the national railway operator has received ten written complaints of racial abuse including five since March 2019.
One passenger reported an incident of "racial and physical abuse" on a Dublin to Mallow train on April 26.
They said: "A person entered the carriage where I was sitting and engaged with a person in the seats in front me.
"He demanded either money or cigarettes from him. He then started racially abusing him and followed this swiftly with a body punch. I could not believe the assault occurring before my eyes."
Another person witnessed "racially motivated abuse of a passenger which was completely unprovoked by the passenger in question" at Pearse Station in Dublin city centre.
They said: "One of the passengers decided to start roaring abuse at a passenger, threatening that he will 'crease him up and what was he looking at' and telling him what he was going to do to him. It was an extremely scary situation."
Another complaint documents how a man allegedly entered a "racist tirade" on the Connolly to Drogheda service, where he is reported to have said that he "hated foreigners and black people".
They said: "The most appalling excuse for a human being began a racist tirade between Laytown and Drogheda. Every racial slur you might have ever heard was hurled about the carriage.
"Initially I found myself getting angry but my children warned me he could be dangerous and I ended up in tears of frustration because I could do nothing but witness this barrage of insults with my children beside me."
According to East Coast FM, there was also incidents on a Rosslare service and a separate incident at Bray DART station.
Speaking about the report, a spokeswoman for Irish Rail told Dublin Live: "While the number of complaints of racial abuse reported to us are very low, they are both revealing of the issue of racism in society and shocking, and we are appalled at those who engage in disgusting racial abuse towards people on our services."
They continued: "We would urge customers who witness or are subject to racial abuse to ensure it is reported.
"On DART services, our new Text Alert service for anti-social behaviour is available by texting TRAIN followed by details of the incident to 51444, or we would urge it to be reported to staff members or Gardaí.
"We are also currently participating with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, National Transport Authority and other public transport operators in an anti-racism awareness campaign to encourage inclusivity, and the reporting of incidents of racial abuse of customers or staff."
