To ask the Minister for Infrastructure, given the recent unrest across Northern Ireland, what steps she will take to ensure the safety of (i) bus and rail conductors and drivers, (ii) station staff and; (iii) passengers is prioritised.

The safety of all Translink staff and passengers on public transport services is a priority for me. The Translink staff deserve to be safe as their do their job and they deserve our respect and gratitude. Throughout this period of unrest I have continued to work with Translink to provide support.

Translink continues to work closely with the PSNI at both a strategic command and local level to ensure the safety of all its staff and passengers. Where potential for civil unrest is identified Translink will pause services, assess the risk to the safe operation of services and if necessary divert, suspend or withdraw services depending in the identified risk levels. These decisions are taken based on the available evidence from PSNI, local community groups, elected representatives and Translink supervisory/management staff on the ground.

In the last year Translink and the PSNI have jointly developed and launched the Safe Transport Team pilot, which has seen dedicated teams of Police Officers working across the Translink bus and rail network focusing on passenger and staff safety, anti-social behaviour, Covid controls and other activities supporting a safe Public Transport network. Throughout the recent unrest these teams have been active on the network, on services and in stations.

Translink has also continued to work with the Trade Unions throughout this difficult period to ensure that all staff concerns are addressed as quickly as possible.