The Tánaiste has said budget 2027 will prioritise workers who get up early every morning, yet the hundreds of thousands of workers who get up early every morning to catch a bus, train or Luas find they are being targeted by the Government to pay more. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made a choice. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, they have chosen now as a good time to hike up public transport fares - not by the rate of inflation, which is 3% or 4%, but by an average of 15%, and far more for some journeys. For example, standard fares in Limerick, Galway and Waterford are going up by 26% under the guise of simplification. Child rail commuter fares in Cork are actually increasing by 130% because of new rules around standardisation. For a short hop journey on Dublin Bus, the fare is rising by 33%.

So what does that actually mean? It means that if you take the bus to and from work in Dublin city, you are paying an extra euro a day, an extra fiver a week, an extra 250 quid a year. That is a real impact on people's incomes at the best of times but to put that on people in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is cruel. The Tánaiste has made a huge political play about the income tax changes that are due in the budget, which will deliver hundreds of euro to workers. Yet if those workers take public transport, he is going to reach into their pocket and take hundreds of euro back. Budget 2027 will punish people who take the bus to work. The only promise that commuters have to look forward to is that he is going to do it the same time again next year with another fare increase. All we are talking about is €70 million. If €70 million is provided to the NTA in this year's budget, it would remove the need for these public transport fare hikes. It would protect low-income workers from this hit. Why do the financial struggles of workers who take the bus and train not matter to the Government? It found the money to support motorists and hauliers when they needed it. In fact, it found 20 times the amount of money that would be needed to stop these fare hikes. Why is the same concern not being shown to people who take public transport? They are struggling too. They are struggling with the cost of energy. They are struggling with the cost of heating their homes and now, from January, they are going to be struggling with the cost of public transport as well.

This is the Tánaiste's first budget as Minister for Finance. He should not use it to punish people who take the bus and train. He should provide €70 million extra to the NTA to stop these fare hikes. He should treat public transport users with the same concern as everybody else who gets up early.

I thank Deputy O'Gorman very much. I understand that nobody welcomes a fare increase but we are making a choice here to continue the progress that we have made in public transport because a low fare is no good if there is not a bus. There are a hell of a lot of parts of this country where people are still waiting for bus routes, Local Link services, and where people want to see the roll-out of a better public transport network. I can understand why Deputy O'Gorman says it that it would only cost this to do that - what he says is factually correct - but of course this to do that has to be seen in the context of the other things we need to do as well, which is to provide more bus routes and better public transport. We need to invest in more frequent and more reliable services, and in enough buses so that there is a bus when somebody goes to get the bus. The only factor is not the fare but sometimes whether a person will get a seat or if there is a route. There are parts of this country where public transport is still very much in its infancy and we need to invest significantly in that as well.

There is a context to this. Fares will still be approximately 8% lower than they were eight years ago. That is at a time when the cost of running the services has increased significantly too - that needs to be factored in - and when the network is expanding. The State is increasing its contribution to public transport substantially. It will continue to do so. That should not be dismissed. We are also maintaining a number of other things, some of which the Deputy and I worked on in the previous Government. Free travel for kids aged under nine will remain in place. Children do not pay for public transport in Ireland under the age of nine, which is something we introduced in the previous Government. There are 50% young adult and student fares as well. The companion pass has been expanded to everyone over the age of 70 who can now bring someone with them on public transport for free as well. Crucially, we are going to roll out 140 new and improved services. The fare money is going directly back in to more routes and enhanced routes too, so people using public transport will see the benefits of that too.

Deputy O'Gorman did the thing that lots of people in this House do. Deputy Nash did it a moment ago. "Why do you like the motorists?" We have got to stop doing this. This is deliberately ignoring the economic facts available to this House, as is the House's right, but it is not a very honest thing to do. The advice available to the Government, economically, is that the measures we have taken to reduce fuel prices have helped suppress inflation in the Irish economy by an average 0.6%. Therefore, the person getting the bus, train or Luas has benefited in terms of the inflation in our country being around 0.6% lower. They have benefited from that decision when they have gone into the shop. We should not try to ask: "What about the motorist versus the person getting the bus? What about the person in rural Ireland versus urban Ireland?" The decisions that we have taken have had a positive impact on suppressing inflation growth in this country.

When the NTA came before us in the transport committee last Wednesday, it was very clear that this fare increase is not about delivering extra services next year; this is about providing the exact same level of service this year as last year. Public transport users are getting nothing extra.

They are wrong.

That is what they told us. That is what they said. The Tánaiste says they are wrong. None of the 145 extra routes he is talking about are funded. Again, that is all conditional on decisions coming up before the budget. The NTA did tell us the consequence of this decision. It is 4.5% fewer passengers using public transport next year. That is going to be the consequence and the legacy. The Tánaiste is right: this is about choices and priorities. In the previous Government, the Green Party chose to reduce fares and deliver more services. The Government is choosing to hammer public transport users.

Deputy O'Gorman is continuing his dogma of trying to pit one part of society against the other. The Government has to do more than one thing at a time. We have to continue to improve public transport and we make absolutely no apology for trying to help people in terms of excise cuts. If it was up to Deputy O'Gorman, he would not reduce the cost of petrol or diesel. In fairness, unlike some, he is very honest in relation to that. We believe people, including in his constituency, need assistance in the here and now as well.

The reason the NTA is wrong is that it is not the sovereign Government of this country. We are. What the sovereign Government of this country will do in 12 days' time is provide clarity in relation to public transport funding for 2027. What I am telling the Deputy is we have made a decision that the fare changes that are being brought about by the NTA, which are effective from next year, will result in a sustainable level of funding that will enable us to significantly expand public transport routes in this country. The people have not chosen the Deputy to be in government. He is not going to misrepresent the record of this Government.