David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for and Family Affairs the amount expended under the supplementary welfare allowance travel supplement scheme and the funding made available for it in 2010; the amount expended under this scheme in 2009; the funding provided by his Department for the rural transport scheme in 2009 and 2010; and his plans to introduce a cost of disability payment to assist people with disabilities in meeting additional costs in accessing transport and social services, as outlined in the Citizens Information Board report, Getting There - Transport and Access to Social Services, published in February 2010 [15359/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE) may award a travel supplement in any case where it appears to the Executive that the circumstances of the case so warrant. The supplement is intended to assist with ongoing or recurring travel costs that cannot be met from the client's own resources and are deemed to be necessary. Up to the 9th April 2010, the expenditure under the travel supplement scheme was €340,000; the projected outturn for 2010 for this scheme is €1.3 million. The total expenditure for travel supplements in 2009 was €1.3 million.

Where the travel costs are non-recurring the HSE may make a single payment to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. Up to 9 April 2010, the expenditure for once-off travel costs was €633,000; and the projected outturn for 2010 for this scheme is €2.6 million. The total expenditure for once-off travel cost payments in 2009 was €2.6 million.

The Free Travel scheme, administered by my Department at an annual cost of €73.5 million in 2009, is available to people over age 66 and to those with disabilities in receipt of certain social welfare payments such as Invalidity Pension, Blind Pension and Disability Allowance. This scheme permits a recipient to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, LUAS and a range of services offered by a large number of private operators in various parts of the country. Free travel is also available on cross-Border journeys between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Customers aged 66 years and over can travel for free on journeys within Northern Ireland.

In addition to the Free Travel scheme, the Department, in recognition of the carriage of Free Travel passholders, provided annual funding of €1.5 million towards the Rural Transport Programme in 2009 and will do so again in 2010. It is acknowledged that Free Travel passholders clearly benefit from the initiative, particularly those who had no access to public transport prior to the setting up of the Programme.

The social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, includes a commitment that the issues around the introduction of a cost of disability payment will be considered following the development of a needs assessment system under the Disability Act. This follows an inter-departmental examination of the issue by a working group and research commissioned on its behalf by the National Disability Authority.

The working group, which was chaired by the Department of Health and Children, concluded that consideration of the introduction of a cost of disability payment is dependent on both the availability of comprehensive data and, in particular, a structured process of the assessment of need.

The Sectoral Plan of the Department of Health and Children, in accordance with Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005, establishes a system for the assessment of individual needs for people with a disability. I understand that further consideration by the Department of Health and Children of the issues around the cost of disability will be contingent on the full implementation of the needs assessment system provided for in the Disability Act.