Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I thank the Minister for his reply and congratulate him on his appointment. I wish him every success.

I hope, though I am not sure, that in his reply the Minister mentioned the emigrants in Britain who have done such great work for us. However, I will not go into that. Perhaps the Minister might address recommendation 515 of the task force report on travel, which was mentioned in the question. He said that, for many elderly Irish, the issue is not simply one of free travel, since they are not being given their due recognition as full citizens of their own country. The task force recommended that measures be introduced as a matter of urgency to enable Irish pensioners living overseas to enjoy free travel on public transport when they visit Ireland from abroad. It is usual to say that it is too difficult to do this, and that the privilege would have to be afforded to every other EU citizen if it were not to be discriminatory. The point I made was that people in receipt of their pre-1953 pension are already in the system, having been assessed. For them to be recognised as a special group and given free travel does not mean that such travel must be given to all older people in the EU.

The London-Irish Elders Forum has campaigned for many years for free travel for Irish pensioners when they come home to Ireland. I attended a meeting of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body yesterday and the Home Secretary, Mr. Murphy, made much of the common travel area between Ireland and the UK. The only recognition in law of this area was in the Amsterdam treaty, from which Ireland sought a derogation. Neither Ireland nor England incorporated the Schengen Agreement because of the common travel area arrangements. Will the Minister consider the matter? Does he agree that a successful legal challenge could be brought by an Irish pensioner in Britain asserting that the denial of travel concessions discriminates against and could be a breach of an Irish citizen's constitutional rights?

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