https://vine.co/v/51BqJW1UMUU

THE GREEN PARTY says that it’s simply unfair that students have to pay more for public transport than well-paid workers.

The party is calling on the government to roll out the Tax Saver scheme to students in the upcoming budget on 11 October.

Launching their plans at Dublin’s Pearse Street station, party leader Eamon Ryan TD said that students buying monthly travel tickets should be supported.

“We’re saying that students should get the same offer that working people do. You get your tax back if you buy a monthly ticket. It should be fair, if someone is going to work and avail of that then why not someone in college?” he argued.

The Tax Saver scheme works by taking the cost of transport tickets off a worker’s salary, thereby reducing their taxable income and saving them money.

The Green Party says students are paying up to 39% more in monthly public transport costs than workers earning €75,000 a year on the Tax Saver scheme.

They want students to pay the same rent as Tax Saver users.

Green Party TDs Catherine Martin TD and Eamon Ryan with members of the Young Greens. Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

It cites, for example, the cost of a student commuter rail ticket at €99.50 being more than €25 more expensive than the Tax Saver cost for a Short Hop monthly ticket at €74.46.

The party’s deputy leader Catherine Martin TD said that the need is even more important now as the housing crisis has forced more and more students to commute to college.

“This is a time when more students are, not really by choice but because of the rental crisis, having to commute,” she said.

So it would seem unfair that you have someone who’s earning over €70,000 getting a cheaper bus fare than a student. So this is essential for reducing that financial pressure on students.

https://vine.co/v/51BqxKzrYZ0

The party wants Finance Minister Michael Noonan to make provision for the plan in the budget with Ryan saying that it would also help students get “into a lifetime habit of using public transport”.

“It would get students onto buses and onto rail and that improves the city and other cities for everyone around the country, but particularly Dublin where we’re facing gridlocked,” he said.

Read: Calls for Sellafield to be closed down after investigation exposes safety concerns >

Read: ‘TDs are not elected to be silent’ – Green Party deputy gives impassioned maiden Dáil speech >