EXCLUSIVE: A 'dangerous' clown, 100 drunk teenagers, assaults and drug use detailed by Laois rail users

A clown swinging a baseball bat in a girl's face, 100 teenagers drinking and standing on tables, a sexual assault and cocaine use in first class were among the issues reported to Irish Rail in Laois last year.

Irish Rail customers reported physical and sexual assaults, drug taking, racism, intimidation and harassment on trains in Laois in 2025.

Complaints lodged with Irish Rail detailed disturbing, upsetting, violent, sexual and at times bizarre behaviour on trains and at stations in the county.

Drug related incidents and the intimidation of young women travelling on trains were occurrences which appeared frequently in the complaints which were lodged by members of the public.

The information was released to the Leinster Express/Laois Live under Freedom of Information from the National Transport Authority detailed complaints relating to train journeys and stations in Laois in 2025.

One of the more bizarre incidents was reported on April 4, 2025 and occurred in Portlaoise. The complaint states that: “A man dressed up as a clown took out a baseball bat yesterday on the platform and swung it twice in the face of the school girl as she was sitting down waiting for her train.”

“Everyone watched what happened and nobody went to her defence then she had to get on the train where he proceeded to march up and down her carriage. This was terrifying and shocking behaviour by this man. This girl regularly takes the train and is now scared to do so. This man is easily identifiable if dressed as a clown and Portlaoise train station staff should be on alert as he is intimidating and dangerous. He could easily do this to another young girl again,” the complaint stated.

On July 4, a complaint was lodged in relation to the behaviour of three men who were “harassing a young girl” on the train.

“The train was fairly empty so the girl sat on the two seats and these three men went and sat next to her trying to talk to her. Customer felt this was very uncomfortable for the girl and should not be happening,” the complaint states.

On August 6, a complainant said two people with three babies got on a train in Portlaoise and were being racist to passengers before they intimidated two people into giving up their pre-booked seats. The pair got off the train in Thurles.

On September 1, a complaint was lodged about an intoxicated male who boarded the train at Portlaoise.

“A young male boarded at Portlaoise, and made his way to our carriage. He was in a dishevelled looking state (dirty grey tracksuit, aged early 20s), clearly intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. The train was not very busy. He proceeded to make his way up the carriage, asking random passengers (younger passengers) if they had any ‘weed’. He pestered the male passengers behind us, asking if they had ‘weed, marijuana or any tablets’," the complaint stated.

“It was very disturbing and I felt especially concerned for an older lady who was sitting alone, not far from us. There was no ticket checker on this service and no way of alerting the driver. This guy should never have been allowed on the train and it is especially egregious when we had paid so much for our own tickets. Can an emergency contact number sticker be included on the train carriages so that Irish Rail staff can be alerted? It was not a pleasant experience for any of the passengers who travelled that morning,” they added.

A number of complaints in September coincided with the dates of the National Ploughing Championships which was held in Tullamore, Co Offaly between September 16 and 18 in 2025.

On September 16, a complaint stated that the train: “Stopped in Portarlington unplanned and took on groups of people that are screaming and banging windows and disrupting quiet coach.”

On September 16, another person travelling from Dublin to Limerick made a complaint about antisocial behaviour on the train. It stated that a large number of mainly male teenagers got on the train at Portarlington.

“I noticed security men at the portarlington platform. The behaviour of the large group of teenagers once they got on this train was anti-social and unacceptable. Where I was sitting (coach A) I was surrounded by them and more members of their group kept trying to sit beside me because there was a group opposite me which they wished to join,” the complaint stated.

They said there was a single Irish Rail employee who was on the train (apart from the driver) who did his best to manage the situation but these teenagers were not taking any notice to what he said to them.

“He was completely outnumbered. Their behaviour was loud and I felt unsafe. It is not acceptable for Irish Rail to expose its passengers or this employee to that kind of carry on. I want to know why did the security at Portarlington allow them onto the train in the first place? I also want to know when their behaviour became insufferable on the train (which was immediate) why they were not told to get off at the next stop. There should be zero tolerance of this kind of carry-on by Irish Rail.” they said.

On September 17, a complaint was made under the heading “Noisy Conduct Lack of security and overbooking from Ploughing”.

“I actually cannot believe how dangerous and disgusting the train from Dublin Heuston to Cork Kent is. It looks like approximately 100 drunk teenagers got on the train at Portarlington and have spent the entire journey standing on chairs and tables screaming and shouting and banging the ceiling. They're openly drinking out of glass bottles (and mixing drinks in plastic ones) as well as doing shots in the middle of the carriage. I saw one light up a joint and just smoke it in the middle of the carriage,” the passenger stated.

The complaint said some of the teenagers had hurleys and some began chanting racist abuse.

“I never normally complain about anything but this is absolutely disgusting. I feel so unsafe surrounded by drunk teenagers holding hurleys and screaming. I've seen security on the trains plenty of times but apparently none was needed when you knew the train was going to be overbooked with a school going to the Ploughing? Every single other person on this train deserves a refund and an apology. I have another hour and a half of this and I could actually cry, it's torture. If you experienced 10 minutes of this you would feel the same way,” they said.

The following day, two young girls were travelling together and one said, “from Tullamore until Portarlington the individual sitting on the seat beside me was physically assaulted by a group of disruptive young Irish males.

The girl said the back row of the train was “emotionally disturbed and distressed” and left feeling like “potential victims” and they had been unable to find staff to assist.

The girl complained of a lack of security and said they tried to report the incident on Irish Rail’s website but ultimately called Gardaí.

She complained of “intentional repeated assault by a group of around 12 male passengers who had pre-booked seats [seat numbers redacted] and boarded at Tullamore and disembarked at Portarlington. At around [time redacted] we were hit unprompted and unprovoked with a full hard can of Pringles, which hit me on the head, we shouted that we had been injured and they then proceeded to hit me again with a heavy hardback bible, again we shouted out in pain and to try deter these actions and were subsequently hit with sharp pens. All of which we have collected as evidence,” they said, adding that the incident had left them in tears.

The next complaint was reported on November 23, 2025. “Two men got on the train at Portlaoise and sat in first class. They started to converse with a man sitting on the seat opposite. After some conversation between them to my horror the two men proceed to give the man cocaine which he proceeded to take sitting in his seat on the train. There was no sign of any Irish rail staff or security on the train,” it states.

A day later, a complaint was lodged about a sexual assault. “I was on the train from Cork to Dublin, November 24, [time redacted] departure. A man sexually assaulted a woman working on the train,” the complaint stated.

“This man was asked to leave on the next station and he did not. Eventually he was removed at Portlaoise. He should have been removed on the first stop, when initially asked,” they said.

“The woman handled it brilliantly and so did her colleague. But anyone who assaults a staff member should be removed immediately. No questions. Off and that is it. She, the staff member who was assaulted, deserves a promotion. Please consider this suggestion…If he, this man who sexual assaulted this staff member, does this on a busy train carriage what would he do on a quiet carriage or anywhere else. Let's call out this behavior”, they said.

On December 8, a complainant requested an investigation after a passenger changed a baby’s nappy on the table across from them. “Following this, the passenger then proceeds to place the soiled diaper containing human waste onto the table which is used by passengers to complete their work, dine and rest. This action is absolutely unacceptable and poses a serious public health hazard,” they said.

Finally, on December 31 a female passenger was waiting for a train in Portarlington when a man in his 50s “was behaving inappropriately by spitting on the ground in front of her, which she found disgusting and rude”.