Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I submitted a parliamentary question to the Tánaiste, Deputy Joan Burton, seeking assurances that the free travel scheme would continue as is. She stated that she had no plans to limit the use of passes, which is welcome. However, she also stated that a funding cap has been in place now for several years, which means that no new routes and no new private companies are being admitted to the scheme. She referred to the financial strain on the scheme and indicated that an interdepartmental group had been set up to review its future operation.

For many pensioners across the country and certainly for pensioners in Wicklow, the pass is essential for many services, in particular access to health care. Last year, Bus Éireann changed the No. 2 bus route, reducing its frequency and removing some of the stops. Critically, the route no longer included St. Vincent's Hospital. To the credit of Bus Éireann, it reinstated much though not all of the scheme following the making of representations. However, Bus Éireann told us the reason it made the changes was because the scheme needed to be stand-alone profitable. Here is the danger. As has already been said in the debate, as more and more routes are privatised there is a real risk that the company will be told the fund no longer extends to it or it will determine that the scheme is not financially viable. We are likely to be faced with a situation in which pensioners all over the country do not have access to essential services like health care because new routes and new operators are not allowed or decide not to operate the free travel scheme.

We all know that money is tight, but can the Minister of State revert to whoever will be the relevant line Minister after tomorrow to ask that Government provide an absolute guarantee that when it comes to access to services like health care the scheme will apply no matter what changes are made to routes or who operates them?

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