Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 17 together.

The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance, regardless of their age, receive a free travel pass. It is also available to people under age 66 who are in receipt of certain disability welfare payments, such as disability allowance, invalidity pension and blind person's pension.

People in receipt of a social security invalidity or disability payment from a country covered by EU regulations, or from a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, and who have been on this payment for at least 12 months, are also eligible for free travel.

The scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by more than 80 private transport operators. The free travel scheme applies to travel within the State and cross-Border journeys between here and Northern Ireland.

There have been a number of requests and inquiries about the extension of entitlement to free travel to Irish born people living outside Ireland, or to those in receipt of pensions from my Department, particularly in the UK. The legal advice available to me is that such proposals would be contrary to the EC treaty, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of nationality. However, I am continuing to examine all aspects of a possible scheme as recognition of the contribution of emigrants to the growth of this country is a priority of the Government.

Significant improvements have been made to the free schemes, including the free travel scheme, in recent budgets in terms of the qualifying conditions and the coverage of the schemes. I will continue to review the operation of these schemes with a view to identifying scope for further improvements as resources permit.

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