Luas passengers have voiced their disgust at the state of a main city stop that has become a squalid drink and drugs den.

Huge gangs of drunks and drug users have taken over the Red Line terminus at Connolly Station, sickening passengers and frightening tourists.

Operators insist they are taking every effort to tackle anti-social behaviour, but the Herald watched as a group of 17 people gathered at rush hour, all either drinking or openly taking drugs.

In the space of an hour and a half, none of the crowd was challenged by either Luas security or gardai.

Surrounded by cans and bottles, several of the men and women stood drinking and smoking drugs, with some shouting obscenities and others passing out.

The gathering has become a common sight at the stop at rush hour.

Passenger Michael Quirke from Co Tipperary, who works on the Lansdowne Road redevelopment, said: "It's very intimidating for people, they do feel threatened."

Deborah Holton, from Naas, said she only used the Luas because of parking problems in the city centre and would drive if she could.

Confront

"It's totally unacceptable," she said. "Nobody seems to be doing anything about it. I saw police giving a ticket to a taxi driver and leaving this crowd here.

"My experience is people like that can do what they want and nobody is going to confront them. I'm not going to say anything, I just want to get home in one piece."

Another passenger, who did not want to be named, said he had witnessed drunks trying to steal bicycles from a nearby rack, and smashing them when they could not break them free.

"Something needs to be done," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to be a have-a-go hero."

Luas operators Veolia Transport said they were making efforts to address the problem and new measures were being considered.

"We are aware that there is an issue around anti social behaviour at the Connolly stop," a spokesperson said.

"The issue is more so loitering at the stop. From the garda perspective, when it comes to criminal offences, it is people being drunk and disorderly as well as loitering. Our own security firm are moving people on continuously and discouraging people from loitering. Our customer service officers are continuously moving people away from the stop and the Luas control room is doing the same. We have increased signage telling people it's an offence to loiter. The gardai from Store Street Station have also increased their presence in the area and are very proactive in moving people on."

"There has been an increase in lighting, as well as the cleaning up of the stop on a daily basis," the spokesperson added.

- Andrew Phelan