Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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102. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider free travel for all means tested social welfare recipients given the rising costs of living; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5426/22]

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.  The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2022 is €95 million.

The objective of the free travel scheme is to ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community.  Extending the eligibility of the free travel scheme to the cohort of people the Deputy has suggested would change this objective, and radically change the nature of the scheme. Any such scheme would also require a more significant operation than that which currently underpins the administration of my Department’s free travel scheme, as it would have to grant and withdraw potentially huge number of passes each year given that many people may only be in receipt of a means tested payment from my Department for a short period.  Any such scheme may also prove to be extremely costly.   

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA) the Department of Social Protection may award a travel supplement in any case where 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 person's own resources and are deemed to be necessary.  Every decision is based on consideration of the circumstances of the case, taking account of the nature and extent of the need and of the resources of the person concerned.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.