Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the free travel pass for senior citizens and recent speculation that it might be stopped or withdrawn for some of those of pensionable age in the next budget. The present review of the system is not due to any wish on the part of the Government to withdraw the pass but rather that the Minister wishes to review the operation of the scheme in relation to the avoidance of fraud and the provision of the service via private operators. The free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIE public transport services, the Luas and a range of services offered by more than 90 private operators throughout the country at an annual cost to the Exchequer of €75 million. More than 745,000 customers are eligible for free travel and when spousal and companion passes are taken into account, more than 1.1 million customers have free travel eligibility.

Under the programme for recovery, increases in subventions for private operators were frozen and no new operators were allowed to join the scheme. Given the state of finances at the time, this decision was warranted. What is happening now is a review of the situation as the programme comes to a close. I note the comments by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, that the removal of the benefit is not on the Government's agenda. For the avoidance of all doubt, perhaps the Deputy Leader would invite the Minister to address the House on the matter. I would be happy to put it down as an Adjournment matter if that is a more convenient method of addressing the speculation.