David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 3, before section 1, to insert the following new section:

"1.—The Minister for Social and Family Affairs shall, within 3 months of the commencement of this Act, lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report on extending the free travel scheme to include other service providers, with a view to improving free travel benefits for people in rural areas.".

This is similar to the issue addressed in amendment No. 8. I have raised the issue of public transport and the free travel scheme in rural areas with this Minister and others for some time. Despite holding free travel passes, many older persons and persons with disabilities are unable to benefit from the range of services available to free travel pass holders in cities and larger towns. I ask the Minister to look at introducing a voucher scheme which could be used in hackneys and other private transport in addition to the free travel pass for persons in rural areas. This would be of particular benefit to persons living in areas which are not serviced by public buses, or even by the rural transport initiative.

I appreciate that there could be costs involved, but I would imagine that they would not be high given the numbers of free travel pass holders in these areas. If a person has a free travel pass and cannot access free travel because there is no public transport available, this voucher system would be important. Perhaps the Minister will give us his views on it.

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