Public Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Ciarán Ahern (LAB), Dublin South-West

I certainly will not dismiss the very significant investment in public transport which is really welcome. The problem with the PSO is that it is not keeping pace with the volume of users now and the demands. The Minister of State talked about 38% of the costs of the PSO being covered by fares but public transport pays for itself in other ways through reduced congestion, safer roads and lower carbon emissions. The idea that fares need to cover costs is not entirely correct. Talking about international comparators and Ireland being relatively lower or higher compared to elsewhere does not really butter any parsnips for people who are impacted by these fare increases. AMLÉ, the association of student unions in Ireland, has come out in recent days looking for free fares for everyone under 25. If we are going to be increasing fares elsewhere, I would love to see us focusing on a group like that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24