Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)

I will open with a formal reply but wish to add a personal comment at the end. The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance receive a free travel pass regardless of their age. It is also available to people aged under 66 years who are in receipt of certain disability-type welfare payments such as disability allowance, invalidity pension and blind person's pension. People resident in the State who have been in receipt of a social security invalidity or disability payment for at least 12 months from a country covered by EU regulations or with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement are also eligible for free travel.

The scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Éireann, Bus Átha Cliath, Iarnród Éireann, Luas and more than 80 private transport operators. The free travel scheme applies to travel within the State and point-to-point cross-Border journeys between here and Northern Ireland. In line with the Government's objective to put in place an all-Ireland free travel scheme for pensioners resident in all parts of the island, I am committed to significantly improving the North-South element of the current arrangements and hope to be in a position to make an announcement about this soon.

There have been a number of requests and inquiries on the extension of the entitlement to free travel in Ireland to Irish born people living outside Ireland or those in receipt of pensions from my Department, particularly in the UK, when they return to Ireland for a visit. The legal advice available to me is that such proposals would be contrary to the EC treaty, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of nationality. However, I am continuing to explore all aspects of a possible approach. Recognition of the contribution of emigrants to the growth of this country is a priority of the Government and access for them to free travel arrangements here would be one such gesture of recognition.

I acknowledge the number of times Senator Mooney has formally and informally raised this matter with me in his role as a representative. He has brought to my attention how important this matter is for Irish emigrants, particularly those in the UK with whom he is very close. The Senator is right in that we have almost reached a conclusion on the Northern Ireland issue, that is, to allow citizens in the Republic to travel around the North for free and vice versa. We are within weeks of pinning it down. It will be a significant step forward as it will give us an all-Ireland travel zone.

The east-west issue, particularly in respect of the UK, is not a financial matter in my view, rather a legal one. It is manageable from a financial point of view. It is the Government's policy to do this, as we wish to extend to our emigrants in the UK the right of free travel here. In an ideal world it would be possible to extend this provision to all Irish citizens in Britain but, realistically, that would be difficult, as one would need to extend it to all citizens of the European Union over 66 years of age. However, 31,000 people living in the UK are paid contributory pensions directly by my Department. While the advice from the Attorney General's office is that such provision would not be possible, I am continuing to explore whether we can attach a condition to pensions here which would also attach to pensions wherever the people in question reside to allow this.

I have not given up on this issue. Senator Mooney and others have impressed on me the importance of this matter many times. I am determined to pursue the legal difficulties to determine whether I can find a solution. We owe so much to our emigrants that we should try to do this for them.