An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

That was not the consideration. The more fundamental point is Government expenditure ceilings, which are set by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure. Every Department has to operate within those ceilings. Most Deputies want us to expand services. Deputy Ward is correct insofar as the numbers of people on public transport have grown exponentially, which is a great thing. Then others - correctly, by the way - want more services. We need more services. One of the bigger issues this year has been the demand from Deputies representing their constituencies for more services across the board. Some 140 additional services will be announced for 2027. It is not an easy choice. I would prefer if we never had to increase fares but we are doing so. This year, the budget will be about €8.5 billion and about €7 billion of that will be public expenditure. However, there are ceilings to it and Ministers have to operate and make choices on how to do things.

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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