Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This issue was put to bed by the Minister last night, last week, last year and the two previous years and when she was speaking last night, she supported the free travel scheme as a universal scheme. In the past few budgets, the Government had to make serious cutbacks in spending, but it protected the travel pass scheme consistently. Why, therefore, should there be any threat to it in a time of recovery?

People are concerned the scheme is being reviewed, but there have been reviews previously. There was a review last year and the previous year. We have discussed these reviews in the Oireachtas committee. Deputy O'Dea is on the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection with me and is aware of reviews that have taken place. The issue of fraud has been considered as part of those reviews. With any scheme where there is expenditure as high as on this scheme, there must be continual review and monitoring.

Age Action has been mentioned in our debate. I believe Age Action was wrongfooted in this regard as there is so much else on which it should campaign.

8 o’clock

There is no need for it to campaign negatively about things which are perceived to be under threat. All it is doing is feeding in to the need for perpetual outrage, negativity and fear. Many lobby groups do not acknowledge or give credit for much that is good these days. I wonder why that is the case, particularly as it is in no way helpful in the context of political discourse or our democracy.

The free travel scheme is a good news story and everyone is in favour of it, particularly as it gives rise to very positive outcomes. There are also other good news stories. For example, Dublin Bus e-mailed all Deputies to inform them that it intends to recruit 100 additional drivers. That is a sign of the company's recovery. Everyone is aware of the works being done to extend the Luas and consultations are taking place in respect of the new Swiftway service. Many good developments are happening. If anything, we should be discussing the progress we need to make now that things are looking up for the economy. The Minister referred to the positive elements of the social welfare system which are designed to alleviate poverty. She gave credit where credit is due and complimented the previous Government - of which Deputy O'Dea was a member - in the context of its protection of the free travel scheme and other actions it took in the area of social welfare. I often acknowledge the fact that in the closing years of its term of office, the said Administration tried - out of necessity - to make the tax system more progressive. According to the OECD, we now have the third most progressive income tax system in the world as a result.

I am completely in favour of this scheme being universal and in my opinion a retired judge should be able to benefit from it. The important thing is that said retired judge should be obliged to pay his taxes to pay for the scheme. There are other universal schemes in place, such as free primary education. The idea is that we pay our taxes and then everybody buys into the fact that there is universal provision in respect of certain services. This is one of those services. Now that we are in the midst of a recovery, we should consider building on universality. Where we have rowed back in respect of the universal provision of public services in recent years, we should, where possible, restore what previously obtained. It is extremely important that we have in place universal provision in respect of services, etc., that are good for our society as a whole and that we do not discriminate with regard to who can avail of these.

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