Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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128. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will allocate funding support to the provider and licence holder of the Buncrana, County Donegal to Derry City bus route to reinstate the rights of the elderly and disabled free bus pass holders who avail of the service in view of the distress and financial strain caused to the elderly and disabled who rely on this route. [34198/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIE public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by some 90 private operators in various parts of the country for those eligible under the scheme. There are currently in excess of 780,000 customers with direct eligibility.

My Department appreciates the important role that free travel plays in promoting social inclusion and preventing the isolation of elderly people. However, all of the schemes operated by this Department, including free travel, were examined in the context of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure and continue to be kept under review given the on-going need for savings. The Review continues to inform decisions in relation to future spending while striving to ensure that priority is given to the elderly and disabled.

Under the programme for National Recovery 2011-2014 introduced by the previous Government, expenditure on the free travel scheme was frozen at 2010 levels for the duration of the plan leaving a provision for the scheme of €77 million per annum. As a result of this, the Department is not in a position to consider new applications or indeed requests from existing operators for increased payments under the Scheme.

However, given the increasing number of recipients and the funding pressures, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and I have established a working group with representatives from the two Departments, as well as the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the National Transport Authority to review the free travel scheme. The work of this group is expected to conclude shortly.