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that this Government recognises the urgency with which we need to help households to decarbonise. Then we have the public transport fare hikes. It would have taken €70 million a year to prevent public transport fares going up. We are spending €100 million a month at the moment … transport to get to work, half of any gains they have made in terms of tax cuts will be swallowed up once those fare hikes come in in January. We are discouraging people from using public transport and prolonging our reliance on expensive and volatile fossil fuels

buses? Where are the new bus services around our cities? We have to ask what the actual justification is for that public transport fare hike. I compare the fare increases with the proposals the Government has announced today to get more people travelling in a sustainable … completed before people apply for their taxsaver tickets at the end of the year, so commuters do not feel the impact of those fare hikes. Similarly, the review of the cycle to work scheme must, at a minimum, help manage the costs of inflation, particularly for families that

order to take the bare look off the lack of energy credits and real improvements in public services, and the incredible fare hikes that it decided to load on commuters in Louth, Kildare and across the country over the last period of time. This is a fundamentally dishonest … hard pressed to find the money to go back to school, or for the commuters who have been slapped around the face with fare hikes. Likewise, there is no help for pensioners whose weekly payments have been swallowed up by the rising cost of everything and who will

worth, in effect, €250 for the year or about €5 per week. It is not even enough to cover the recent commuter fare hikes. The cost of energy, rents and groceries are soaring. This is not a budget that makes housing affordable, tackles other priorities such

button for the heating, immersion or cooker are not winners today. Nor are public transport users facing down €70 million worth of transport fare hikes. Who does win? For as long as the Government relies on the private market to meet the public need, the private market will

much to ask. People travelling from Tralee to Dublin, sometimes with children also, and students heading to college are paying fares which were reasonable until the latest hikes. They should not be expected to undertake such a long journey without basic refreshments. The attitude that some routes warrant

relief from €14,000 to €16,000 means that anyone who is renting such a room is going to face a rent hike. The extension of the scheme to modular units means that you can now rent out your designated auxiliary dwelling, DAD - that is your garden shed … still have no sign of BusConnects. It is still delayed until 2028. It was initially promised in 2025. We now have a fare increase that is 15% above inflation. Loads of well-populated urban areas in Limerick have no public transport. The Government should have front-loaded that