Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement today of the 80 electric buses to be provided this year and the plan to go to 800 over the next eight years. Much more needs to be done. It is welcome but it is a drop in the ocean compared to the urgency that is needed to deal with climate change and the cost of living. I note the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, has endorsed the People Before Profit policy of provision of free public transport, given he had a lovely trip to Luxembourg recently and had the experience of free public transport. As well as Deputy Troy endorsing the notion of free public transport, will the Government have the same ambition to move towards that demand, which is one of the key demands of Saturday's demonstration on the cost of living which will be an intervention before the budget? At 1 p.m. on Saturday, people will be marching through this city and one of the key demands is for free public transport. I encourage everybody to get onto that protest because it is an intervention we can make prior to the budget but I would like the Government to intervene and endorse the idea of free public transport. As the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, said, "This is [the] route we need to travel."

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