Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason rural and urban free transport pass holders are not governed by the same guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31842/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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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, regardless of their age, receive a free travel pass.

The scheme is also available to people under age 66 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 are in receipt of a social security invalidity or disability payment from a country covered by EU Regulations, or from a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, and who have been in receipt of this payment for at least 12 months, are also eligible for free travel.

The same qualifying conditions apply regardless of whether the applicant lives in an urban or a rural area. The guidelines for the scheme are available on my Department's website.

The scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. The underlying feature of the scheme is the use of spare capacity on these transport services.

The vast majority of private contractors providing services under the scheme operate in rural areas. However, while my Department pays transport providers to operate the free travel scheme, it is not in a position to provide transport services where none exist.

The issue of access to public transport in rural areas is being addressed at present through the Rural Transport Initiative, which is being managed by Pobal, formerly Area Development Management (ADM), on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport. My Department contributed €500,000 to the Initiative in 2004, €750,000 in 2005 and is contributing €850,000 for the Initiative in 2006. This will ensure that free travel pass holders continue to have full access to community based transport services.

Significant improvements have been made to the free schemes, including the free travel scheme, in recent Budgets both in terms of the qualifying conditions and the coverage of the schemes. I will continue to review the operation of these schemes with a view to identifying the scope for further improvements as resources permit.