Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It raised an interesting point which has been raised at this committee on several occasions regarding the free travel pass. The Minister will have seen the footage of the individual who picked up somebody else's pass and used it for one week. He was ultimately fined for not having a ticket and the pass was confiscated, which seems rather lenient. We have heard claims that there is ongoing abuse of the free travel scheme, to the detriment of those who avail of it legitimately. Can more be done in this regard? The person who was featured in the documentary got away with a fine from the company which runs Luas, but there was, apparently, no intervention by the Department. Will the Minister indicate whether people are pursued for identity fraud in such instances? There might be a grey area in which people wrongfully claim an allowance or are overpaid, but in this case there can be no question that identify theft is involved.

Can those involved in such activity not be pursued to a greater extent to try to prevent abuse of the system, which has been lauded outside Ireland as being a good one? It came under pressure in the past and, thankfully, action was taken to prevent it from being changed by the type of abuse to which I refer. The new ID cards may make matters easier. Perhaps Veolia, which operates Luas, and CIE might work with the Department and, if necessary, pursue high-profile court cases in order to discourage others from abusing this valuable card.