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

I wholeheartedly support Age Action's hands off our travel passes campaign. The importance of the free travel scheme to older people across the State cannot be overstated.

They are not alone in depending on the travel pass to overcome isolation and live a meaningful life of dignity and inclusion. It is unfortunate that the Fianna Fáil motion makes no mention of the thousands of people with disabilities and their carers, for whom the travel pass scheme must also be defended and protected in full. I am of the view that this matter warrants express mention, particularly when we consider the fate of other schemes designed to meet the varying travel needs of people with disabilities.

The mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant are two schemes that were intended to contribute to the transport costs of people with disabilities which impede them or leave them unable to use public transport. In a stunning move, the Government closed these schemes to new applicants early last year. It promised at the time that they would be replaced with something new but, more than a year later, no such replacements have materialised. The Government also announced that the excise duty relief element of the disabled drivers and passengers scheme would be discontinued from the end of the year. The Minister for Finance has promised that it will be replaced by a new fuel grant scheme of equivalent value. However, the clock is ticking and no concrete details have as yet emerged in respect of a replacement scheme. It must be remembered that there is no cost-of-disability payment in this State and, therefore, not just cash transfers but all the other various elements of the package of supports available to people with disabilities, including the free travel scheme, are all core to the overall income of people with disabilities and their households.

In its pre-budget submission to the Department of Social Protection, the Disability Federation of Ireland stated:

We can no longer accept the argument that the protection of basic payments equates with the protection of basic income. Supplementary income supports are part of people’s basic income, and must be protected and bolstered to reflect growing need to pay for extra medical, transport and living costs that must be met, just as these very services are being stripped back ... Supplementary benefits such as Household Benefits Package, domiciliary Care Allowance and Free Travel Scheme, must be protected.

I am of the view that the Department should consider how it might extend travel supports to other people with disabilities who do not satisfy the narrow means test criteria relating to the disability allowance. I was recently approached by a woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis whose disability allowance had been terminated and, as a consequence, whose travel pass had been withdrawn. This was all because her husband's income is €36 above the threshold. The withdrawal of her travel pass is what really bites for her. It has caused her great mental and financial anguish because she is unable to drive and has limited ability to walk as a result of her illness. She had come to rely on her travel pass in order to gain some access to the outside world.

In its response to the motion, I urge the Government to make a clear and categorical commitment that there will be no further erosion of the transport supports for people with disabilities and that, at a minimum, the free travel scheme will be protected in full for older people, those with disabilities and their carers. In its amendment, the Government states its commitment "to fully supporting and retaining the free travel scheme as a universal benefit for elderly people". I request that it extend this commitment to those with disabilities. It is possible that the only reason the Government is not considering restricting the free travel scheme is that older people have spoken at recent elections. When the then Fianna Fáil Government launched an attack on their benefits, they came out in massive numbers and forced that Administration to reverse its decision.

Deputy Nash saw fit to have a go at Sinn Féin, but as soon as the other members of his party who were present in the Chamber had concluded their contributions, he legged it because he did not want to listen to the truth. The Deputy's party were recently rejected by the people North and South. My apologies; that party does not even bother to run candidates in the North, so it cannot even put its policies to the electorate there. However, its sister party was rejected by the nationalist people in the North. On the issue of social welfare reform there, the Labour Party's sister party takes exactly the same stance we take in rejecting Tory cuts. Rather than the Assembly, it is the Tories who have set the agenda. This matter has never been properly put to the Assembly as a result of who controls the purse strings and the fact that the Labour Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have never demanded the transfer of the relevant fiscal powers to the Assembly.

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