Leaving a community without a bus service due to anti-social behaviour concerns "isn't good enough", a Limerick councillor says.
She was speaking after the city's O’Malley Park area was recently left without an evening bus service.
The Limerick Leader reports evening services to the area were only restored in January, after a decade without them.
Transport officials cited anti-social behaviour as the reason for pulling the service, while Bus Éireann said there was a "risk to drivers, passengers, vehicles and the community".
However, 303 services are again serving the estate after the recent disruption.
Fine Gael Councillor Sarah Kiely told The Pat Kenny Show there have only only "isolated" incidents of anti-social behaviour targeting buses and drivers.
She said: "It’s not like it’s happening every week or every day.
"The headlines can sometimes not tell the full story… attacks on the buses have taken place sporadically, not regularly.
“Citing anti-social behaviour and stopping a bus with no notice isn’t good enough: we need to tackle the problem, rather than just isolating a community again.
"I wouldn’t imagine if this incident happened in any other part of any other city, that they would just pull the service with no notice.”
Cllr Kiely said scheduled buses returned to the area last night after the issue was recently raised at a council meeting.
She said the area does have monitored cameras, and any incidents need to be flagged with gardaí "right away" so officers can attend the scene.
However, she stressed there have been no problems in recent weeks and months.
Cllr Kiely she was "inundated" with calls and messages yesterday after the bus finally returned to the area as timetabled, and that she's delighted for locals that the service has resumed.
She said she fully agrees bus operators have a duty of care to their employees, but suggested they wouldn't have put the service back so quickly if they felt there was a risk.
