Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the regulations regarding entitlement to a companion free travel pass will apply to persons who are over 70 years and have a free travel pass and medical card and are medically certified as being unable to travel alone; and if he will make the necessary arrangements. [17710/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The free travel companion pass scheme was introduced in 1990 for persons who qualify for free travel and who, on account of their disability, are unable to travel alone. Those who are eligible for a companion free travel pass include: recipients of disability allowance or invalidity pension who are medically assessed as being unfit to travel unaccompanied; people who are blind or severely visually impaired; people who are confined to wheelchairs; and people who are receiving full-time care and attention from someone who is in receipt of a carer's allowance.

A person under age 75 would have to meet one of the above conditions to qualify for a companion pass. People who are aged 75 years and over and who are medically certified as unfit to travel alone are entitled to such a pass. Any further extension to the free travel scheme could only be considered in a budgetary context.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when rent allowance will be restored in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare in regard to enclosed documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17747/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The rent supplement scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any role in determining entitlement in individual cases.

The position remains as advised in my reply to Question No. 128, which I answered for the Deputy on 12 May 2005. The Dublin-mid Leinster area of the executive advised then that it had sought confirmation of the employment status of the spouse of the person concerned to determine his continued entitlement to rent supplement. As he failed to provide the information requested, the executive ceased payment of his supplement in February 2005. The executive has confirmed that it did not receive the necessary information from the person concerned or his spouse to enable it to give any further consideration to their rent supplement entitlements.

My Department has arranged to forward the documentation supplied by the Deputy in connection with this question to the community welfare officer dealing with this case. The executive will determine whether the person concerned or his spouse is entitled to rent supplement, taking account of this information and the outcome of any further inquiries it considers necessary to verify the situation.