Public Transport and Fare Increases: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Richard O'Donoghue (II), Limerick County

The Government projects a €9.2 billion surplus for this year and today it is looking for a 15% increase in bus and rail fares. I do not know if I heard this right. This Government projects a €9.2 billion surplus for 2026 and it wants to increase bus and rail fares by 15%. My God. I was in Moate the other night at a meeting attended by over 3,500 people from all walks of life - the transport network, the haulage network, carers, nurses and contractors - wondering how their businesses are going to survive and then they see a Government with a €9.2 billion surplus. I heard the crowd across there saying how the Green Party did great things in the last Government. It spent a rake of money on electric buses that are parked and cannot be used, tied us to Europe on an unrealistic plan that we cannot achieve and brought pain to this country, but that was put in there by this Government. It signed up to that too.
It goes to show that if this Government was a business of any type in this country, it would be bust. It makes bad decisions and wastes money and what does it do? It goes back to the Exchequer and looks for more money for its mistakes. There is no accountability and nobody gets fired so it loses money and wastes money every year and comes back the following year. When I told the Minister for public expenditure in the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight that there were people who could not get a rebate because they were not compliant because they might have been late with a repayment, he said "Richard, people have to be compliant", but this Government is not compliant. Every year, it goes over budget but the difference between the Government and a business is that the Government inflicts pain on everyone in this country to fix mistakes. It cannot even run a budget.
Now we come to the 15% increase in bus and rail fares. When people are trying to make a difference for the environment, the Government penalises them as well. The day of reckoning is coming and it is coming soon. The people in this country no longer have any faith in the Government. Hopefully, the next time there is an election, they will finally vote with their conscience.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29