Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment and giving me the opportunity to clarify the position.

The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over, carers and customers under 66 years of age who are in receipt of certain disability type payments. The scheme permits customers to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, the Luas and a range of services offered by up to 90 private operators in various parts of the country. Customers of the scheme over 66 years of age who are married, cohabiting or in a civil partnership receive a pass that allows their spouse, civil partner or cohabitant to travel with them for free. Certain customers can receive a companion pass which allows any person over the age of 16 years to accompany them for free.

Free travel is also available on cross-Border journeys to and from Northern Ireland. The all-Ireland free travel scheme allows a free travel pass holder, aged 66 years and older, to travel free of charge on all bus and rail services within Northern Ireland using a senior smartpass card. Similarly, Northern Ireland senior smartpass holders are entitled to travel for free on services in Ireland using their existing senior smartpass.

When the free travel scheme was introduced in 1967, it was a scheme for old age pensioners and blind pensioners. At the time of its introduction, the then Minister for Finance described the objective of the scheme as being to "relieve the difficult circumstances of old people who live alone" by giving them "additional help by way of free electricity and transport." In 1972 the scheme was extended to people aged 70 years and over. Although 70 years of age was pension age at the time, this extension also removed the requirement for people to be in receipt of the old age pension or any other social welfare payment to qualify for free travel. The age at which free travel was available to all was reduced several times until finally it was reduced to the age of 66 years in 1977.

In 2001 there were 608,000 customers covered by the free travel scheme; today there are 780,000. This represents an increase of almost 30%. In 2001 the scheme cost approximately €46 million per year; in 2014 it will cost €77 million, an increase of 65%. As the House will be aware, funding for scheme was frozen by the previous Government at 2010 levels of expenditure, as outlined in the national recovery plan 2011 to 2014 and the budget for 2011. During this period the Department has, therefore, not been in a position to increase the level of payments in excess of this level of expenditure or to accept additional routes or providers within the scheme.

Given the increasing number of recipients and the funding pressures, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Minister for Social Protection established a working group with representatives of the two Departments, as well as of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the National Transport Authority, to review the free travel scheme. The purpose of the review is "to examine and report on the current operation and future development of the free travel scheme". While the interdepartmental working group has been tasked with ensuring "that its recommendations have regard to the likely impact on costs both immediate and into the future", it had no specific mandate to identify potential savings based on current funding levels. The work of the group is expected to conclude shortly. The Minister will examine its report as soon as it is available.

The Government appreciates the importance of the free travel scheme and the value it provides for the hundreds of thousands of mostly elderly people who use it. The Government has no plans to take passes away from pensioners. We must ensure the scheme which has been in operation for almost 50 years can continue to operate in an efficient and sustainable way into the future.