Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1050. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the progress she has made to date with her counterparts at European Union level regarding the extending and or harmonisation of the free travel pass that this State issues for use in other member States; if she has costed same; and if so, if she will provide estimates of same. [1985/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The free travel 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.  There are currently approximately 1,022,000 customers with direct eligibility through receipt of a qualifying social protection scheme.  The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2021 was €95 million.

The Department is not engaged in or aware of any discussions at European Union level regarding the extending and/or harmonisation of the free travel scheme to allow the pass to be used in other Member States at this time.

The primary objective of the free travel scheme is to encourage older people and people with disabilities to remain independent and active within the community, thereby reducing the need for institutional care and to encourage social mobility.  Extending the use of the pass outside of the island of Ireland would be a fundamental change to these objectives.  Given that travel concessions granted by EU Member States vary considerably, any such scheme would also be difficult to administer and might prove to be extremely costly.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.