A €9 monthly transport ticket among Labour's budget proposals

Labour’s finance spokesperson Ged Nash: “I think what’s required now is radical interventions.'

A €9 monthly public transport ticket, phased increases in social welfare, and an emergency fund to restore derelict houses are among measures sought by Labour as part of its alternative budget.

The party is proposing to increase overall Government spending by €9.2bn, with the bulk of that coming from an overall budget package worth €6.9bn. The additional €2.3bn is for proposed additional capital spending for projects outside the current National Development Plan.

The proposed package is more than €2.8bn more than the current Government intends to spend on new measures in the upcoming budget, with its plans set to cost €6.4bn.

For its cost-of-living package, Labour is proposing to spend just under €3bn on measures, including two social welfare bonuses in October and December, as well as a double child benefit payment and a once-off €250 fuel allowance payment.

The party also wants to introduce a €9 monthly unlimited-use public transport ticket, modelled on a German measure introduced for three months in summer 2022. The party estimates that it would cost €330m to implement and would run for six months on a trial basis.

Asked if this would overload the existing public transport system, Labour’s finance spokesperson Ged Nash said: “I think what’s required now is radical interventions, the likes of which we haven’t seen before.

“There’s no doubt about it that lots of the lines that lots of us use, my own line for example from Louth into Drogheda, is very, very busy indeed. It’s busy because the demand is there.”

He said there is a rolling stock of buses and trains coming on stream and that Labour wants to see more people working within public transport.

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As part of its proposed social welfare package, Labour is calling for a €15 increase in social welfare rates from October, before rising to an additional €27.50 over the course of 2024. The party says that this is possible at a cost of €275m to the taxpayer.

Labour, alongside the Social Democrats, wants a €2 increase to the minimum wage, which would take it to €13.30 an hour.

On housing, which the party labels as a priority, Labour is calling for a capital injection of €1.6bn to deal with labour shortages, increase the building of social and affordable homes, as well as increasing retrofitting.