Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Aidan Farrelly (SD), Kildare North Increasing the cost of using public transport by an average of 15% is a political decision. It is happening because this Government refuses to invest in the National Transport Authority, NTA, in the expansion of the network and ultimately in its passengers. We now know this is only the start of the fare increases. The Government intends to raise them again and again. While Government backbenchers love the photo-op of opening a new bus stop, what people who stand at those bus stops need the Government to do right now is to demand that these fare increases are reversed and that they do not happen. The Government is making this decision during a climate emergency, when we should be doing everything in our power to incentivise the use of public transport, not disincentivise it. It is making this decision amid an affordability crisis where 15% will become 30%, which will become 50%. I have a very simple question: Will the Minister, her Cabinet and their backbenchers reverse this decision? --- 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/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17