The Green Party has called for an extension of free public transport to all children under 12 as well as a permanent basic income scheme for artists as part of its Budget 2026 proposals.
Public transport is free for under nines and the party said that expanding this to all primary school children would cost another €6 million plus €2m more for commercial operators.
On the basic income scheme for artists, the Greens said the initiative should be made permanent with funding doubled to widen access to more participants at a cost of an additional €21m.
Leader Roderic O'Gorman said the party was not proposing another round of energy credits and its focus is on separate targeted measures, including a second tier of Child Benefit as well as free travel.
"Those are all measures that will have an effect on the increased cost of living but won't have the financial costs to the state of another broad round of energy credits."
The Green Party also proposed a targeted support scheme for the hospitality sector rather than a blanket VAT cut.
This would cost less overall and would be geared towards supporting smaller businesses rather than larger operators, it said.
A further initiative is a pilot public childcare model for 3,000 children at a cost of €30m.
Mr O'Gorman described the current administration as a "do nothing Government" with "low amounts of legislation passed, lots of statements in the Dáil but very little actual work taking place".
