Public Transport and Fare Increases: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Paul Donnelly (SF), Dublin West

Do any Government Members listen to the radio or watch television? Do they hear workers and families talking about the cost of living every day? What do they do? They make it more expensive to go to work, school or college, or to attend essential services, particularly health services, that some people rely on the public transport system for. The Government claims it wants more people to use public transport, but its actions tell a different story - they tell the truth. Increasing fares while asking people to leave their cars at home makes no sense. Ghost buses that put people's jobs at risk are unacceptable. For how long has the Minister been promising it will be sorted? This morning on RTÉ, it was said to the Minister that people are standing there, the bus is coming and then, minutes from its supposed arrival, it disappears. That is happening all over Dublin West and all over Dublin city. I heard last night at a meeting from Shannon, a resident of Tyrellstown who started college and is already missing classes because of these ghost buses.
Those on the Government benches love to waffle about the Opposition having no solutions. Well, here they are: stop the fare hikes, introduce free travel for under-18s, improve the failing services, end the scandal of ghost buses and deliver decent services for people. I will provide an example. In Tyrellstown, in the new developments of Kilmartin, Hollystown and Hollywoodrath, there are no rail services and there is a poor bus service that is made worse by ghost buses when people are relying on those buses.
I met representatives of Irish Rail today and they said they are hoping for funding for DART+ to be given this year. Why does the Government not tell them the funding is there and let them get on with the job of delivering a world-class system? This comes down to political choices. Last year, the political choice the Government made was to give €250 million to developers who were already building apartments. Let us help the people - the workers and the families - who are struggling.

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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