Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking Questions Nos. 61 and 96 together.

The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are more than 1 million people with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on the free travel in 2024 is €104 million.

The objective of the free travel scheme is to ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community. Extending the eligibility of the free travel scheme to include children would change this objective, and radically change the nature of the scheme.

In budget 2024, I expanded the free travel scheme to provide a free travel pass to people who are medically certified as not fit to drive. People qualifying under this expansion will have no requirement to be in receipt of a social welfare payment, but they must meet the other qualifying criteria. The implementation date for the measure is July 2024.

As part of the budget, my colleague, the Minister for Education, announced a significant €92 million increase in funding for school transport services. This is to provide for the additional demands for pupils with special education needs on school transport services and increased bus contractor running costs.

This funding also allows for the continuation of the reduced school transport fees for the 2024-2025 school year. This will continue to reduce the cost of sending children to school and increase the number of pupils that will avail of the school transport service.

In addition, I am aware that many operators have reduced fares for children and in some cases children under five years of age can currently travel free of charge.

Any further expansion of the free travel scheme, proposed by the Deputies and in excess of the measures announced in budget 2024, would require additional funding for the free travel scheme and would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

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