Greens criticise threatened public transport price hikes

The Greens have criticised the government for planning to potentially raise public transport fees.

While the Greens’ last term in government ended with them losing all but one of their 12 Dáil seats, one of their unambiguous hits from their time in government was the reduction of public transport fees and the introduction of the 90-minute fare across Dublin.

Mood music from the government ahead of October 7’s Budget is that public transport costs will increase as the government looks to tighten its belt and has been firm in its messaging that it will not be a “giveaway Budget.”

In traditional government fashion, most of the Budget has been revealed ahead of the day itself, and a €250 million “funding gap” has been identified in the Department of Transport; the government has three choices between increasing public transport fares, cutting public transport services, or cutting €250m from National Development Plan infrastructure projects.

Green councillor and party spokesperson on transport, Feljin Jose, said the choices presented to the government are “false choices” and none of the three should be considered.

“Hiking fares, cutting services or raiding the budget for projects like DART+, Cork Commuter Rail and BusConnects would all be disastrous,” he said.

“There is a fourth choice to simply continue to prioritise and fund public transport. The €250 million “funding gap” is just the gap in ambition between this government and the last.”

He stated, “we know that public transport investment has an enormous positive impact on our economy, on emissions reduction and on everybody’s quality of life. The Greens prioritised that investment and we saw the results – new routes in our cities, towns and villages; fares going down, passenger numbers up.”

“This is a test of priorities, and the government is failing,” the Cabra-Glasnevin councillor said.

Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the increased funding for public transport, which directly stemmed from the Greens controlling the Department of Transport in the last government, resulted in 49 million more journeys on public transport in 2024 compared to 2019.

The Dublin West TD said, “in the midst of an ongoing cost of living crisis, our people cannot afford fare increases, and our environment cannot afford measures that will make public transport less attractive.”

“So, in Budget 2026, rather than cutting services, we’re calling on the Government to keep fares low and invest more in public transport infrastructure.”