John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this motion and compliment Deputy O'Dea for bringing it forward. The free travel pass scheme has changed much since it was first introduced in 1967 for the over-70s. It was means-tested. Since then, it has been extended to pensioners and people on invalidity pension and disability allowance and there have been other changes to help older people move around freely.

We fully support the protection of the free travel scheme. It was introduced by Fianna Fáil in 1967 and it has helped to ensure generations of elderly people could remain connected to their communities. The pass has empowered otherwise isolated individuals to play an active role in their areas and helped them to attend medical and other personal appointments. The scheme also serves as a stimulus package by facilitating elderly people to travel across the country, injecting much needed money into the tourism and the hospitality sectors.

One always worries when a Department says it will undertake a review because that usually means changes, which are usually not in the best interest of the customer or the consumer. How often have reviews been carried out that resulted in significant change and people suffering greatly? Only recently there was a review of medical cards and many people lost their cards, particularly those who had discretionary cards or who had cards on medical grounds and so on. As a result, thousands of people throughout the country lost their medical cards. The Minister for Health in his wisdom decided to row back on the change and to go back to the future in the sense that he said former card holders who had lost them in the review would have them restored, although it is a slow process. Many people have not had their cards returned, as promised by him more than a month ago.

Research by Age Action Ireland demonstrates that 78% of travel pass holders use it on a weekly basis with 30% using it daily. More than 70% of respondents to the organisation's survey use the pass to attend medical appointments and more than 60% said they would find it difficult to attend such appointments or social events without it. Removing them would create a serious problem. People must wait a long time to get medical appointments, in some cases up to three or four years, and they could find they have no way to travelling to a hospital, particularly given the changes to hospital groupings. Hospitals in my own country, for example, are tied to Dublin and, therefore, people must travel to St. Vincent's, St. Luke's or Tallaght hospitals when they receive an appointment. It is important to retain the scheme to ensure travel passes are available to these people.

The survey also illustrates the critical role the pass plays in elderly people's lives. The pass serves as a major stimulus for the tourism sector, as it enables those aged over 66 to access easily various parts of the country for trips and excursions. Many active retirement groups and organisations from my home town of Enniscorthy, particularly on Sundays during the winter, travel to Dublin to visit museums and Croke Park for matches while some people visit relatives and go shopping. The elderly engage in many activities by availing of the free travel pass, which they would not have a hope of doing if it was not available to them.

The Government review cannot be allowed to serve as a smokescreen for hidden cuts to this critical support. The Government parties have introduced a range of harsh measures affecting the elderly such as prescription charges, abolition of the telephone allowance, reduction in the fuel allowance and a huge reduction in housing aid supports through county councils. This is causing serious problems for people who want to upgrade or refurbish their house to suit their needs but the moneys are not available. Wexford County Council says that it will run out of funding for housing schemes for the elderly at the end of July or early August for the remainder of the year.

I am worried, based on the way reviews have been carried out in the past, that a review of the free travel scheme will lead to a withdrawal of passes in certain circumstances. Some people say the scheme should be means tested while others say the pass should only be valid during off peak hours and more say there should be significant changes. I do not agree with major change. People must be allowed to continue to use their passes as they do currently.

The scheme costs €77 million annually, which is a small amount in the overall scheme of things when one considers that 787,000 people benefit from it. Perhaps elements of the scheme could be tightened but it should continue to operate as is. A number of private operators have threatened to withdraw from the scheme if the subsidy they receive is not increased to cover their increasing costs. We are getting good value for money. Diesel prices and other costs have increased but the free travel scheme operators are providing more or less the same service to the State and their funding has been similar on an annual basis. It is important that the Government does not use the fact that these operators or CIE are saying they need more money as an excuse to make changes in the review.

The national travel pass is important for ordinary people. Many people come in from the country and they take the bus or the train to Dublin or another destination without any hindrance or threat from the Government to change the system. The scheme enables people to access all parts of their communities, to travel to meet their families and friends or to visit places they wish to visit. To implement any change that would curtail this would represent a further attack on the elderly in our society. They have become an easy target for this Government. When they get protesting, they turn out in huge numbers - we saw that when the late Deputy Brian Lenihan introduced changes to the medical card scheme. They mobilised themselves, travelled to Dublin in their thousands, ironically courtesy of the free travel pass, to protest at the gates of Leinster House. The then Government rowed back on those measures and ensured people retained their medical cards over 70.

We now have a situation where people on discretionary medical cards have had those cards withdrawn but people mobilised themselves in the local elections by voting against the Government parties. People may not march on the streets any more but, as the Government will be aware following the local elections, elderly people who turn out to vote in great numbers now use those votes to decide on what type of services they wish to see. It is important that the free travel pass continues to be available to the elderly, the disabled, people on invalidity pensions and any others who are eligible for this service. The Minister should set the record straight and clarify that the proposed review will not result in the withdrawal of the pass from certain groups. It must be spelled out that this pass will continue to be available into the future to the people who are currently eligible for it.

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