An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
============================================================

Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

The National Transport Authority's, NTA, plans to increase public transport fares by an average of 15% have come as a hammer blow to commuters already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. Fares for some will rise by up to 35%. Certain cohorts of students have been excluded from student fare rates. These changes will disproportionately affect those on lower incomes coming at a time when housing, grocery and energy costs remain intolerably high and rising. This change also follows price hikes for parents of children using school transport. It comes after a summer when droughts and floods across Ireland and Europe have reminded us of the need to ensure that we take action to slash carbon emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and encourage public and active travel. The Government has been curiously silent. It has let the NTA take the hit for railroading through these plans. If the Government can find €400 million to subsidise diesel, it has the power and resources to make public transport affordable. The Labour Party is asking whether the Government give commuters a break and stop this fare hike.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16