CIE is seeking an increase of 9% in fares for bus, Dart and rail users. The state-owned transport company has requested a 6% increase in ticket costs and a separate 3% increase which it describes as a “fuel levy”.

The request will come as another blow to Irish consumers. They were hit with a 34% increase in gas prices in September and face a 20% increase in electricity prices in January. Combined, the higher charges will cost consumers more than €450 extra a year. Higher bus and train fares would increase that figure to nearly €500.

CIE claims the increases are required to cover current and previous increases in fuel prices as well as additional wage costs negotiated under the social partnership agreement.

CIE’s diesel and electricity bill is understood to be €19m this year, up €10m since 2003. The state subvention to the company was €283m last year. If CIE’s demand is met, it would add about 15c to a typical €1.80 Dublin bus fare and around €5 to a Dublin-Cork day return train ticket, currently €59.

The request for the price increase has been submitted to the transport department which will decide whether or not to grant it in the coming weeks.

Martin Cullen, the transport minister, is believed to oppose fuel surcharges and will want to keep any fare increase in line with inflation, currently running at 3.9%.

The latest move by CIE will add to the growing concerns about increased living and energy costs. Trade union leaders have claimed that wage rises achieved through the current partnership arrangement are in danger of being cancelled out.

David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, has called for a curb on “official inflationary practices and policies” to ensure people receive the full value of pay increases agreed under Towards 2016. “Recent gas and electricity price hikes were wrong and the regulatory regime in that sector is now driving inflation,” he said.

Joan Burton, the Labour party finance spokesperson, said CIE’s request was “unacceptable”. She added it made little sense given government attempts to encourage more people to use public transport.

“The way to get people out of their cars and onto a more sustainable form of transport such as buses and trains is to keep the ticket prices as low as possible. This request runs counter to this plan and shows the lack of joined-up thinking between government and transport agencies,” she said.

Richard Bruton, Fine Gael’s finance spokesman, was also critical. “Fuel prices are down 10%, according to the latest figures, so how can CIE justify looking for this surcharge,” he said.

Bruton pointed out that prices in the state sector are rising at three times the rate of inflation. “Wherever the government is involved, or there is state regulation, the prices are being pushed up for consumers.

“The general price index is currently going up by 3.9%. If you take mortgage-interest increases out of this it comes to below 3%, so I don’t see how CIE is looking for three times that level.”

Bruton claimed Ireland is the “most expensive country in the eurozone” and that the government was the main driver of inflation. He said that in the past five years prices set directly by the government have increased by 52%.

Soaring gas and electricity prices are being investigated by the Competition Authority.

In the past 12 months gas and electricity prices have grown by 26% while housing, water, electricity and other costs rose by 18.4% on the 2005 figure.

Last year, an increase of 3.8% in CIE’s fares was agreed by government. The company had sought rises of up to 7.5% but this was opposed by Cullen.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the company confirmed the request had been made and said it was awaiting a reply from the minister. He said CIE had been denied increases in the past when it needed to cover growing fuel costs.

Fuel surcharges, such as those proposed by Iarnrod Eireann, are already a reality in the aviation industry. Ryanair, the budget airline, has promised not to introduce them, but did increase its fares slightly in August in response to rising oil prices.

It claimed this did not break its pledge on a fuel levy as the rise was contained in ticket prices and not added to them.

Iarnrod Eireann promised a review of its fare structure recently amid claims that customers in the expanding greater Dublin area were using trains to commute but paying fares that did not reflect this.

It emerged that passengers in areas such as Sallins and Kilcock were paying €6 or more for a single adult fare into Dublin city centre, while the equivalent fare for someone travelling from Balbriggan, about the same distance away, was €3.60.

This is because Sallins and Kilcock are deemed to be on the national route rather than inside the Dublin commuter belt.

CIE returned an operating surplus of €15.1m last year. Wages and payroll costs amounted to €534m, up from €511.9m in 2004. The increase was due to pay awards granted under the Programme for Sustaining Progress.

Times Recommends

• Fish and chip shops ‘selling cobbler as cod’
• T in the Park festival at Kinross
• Body Watch