Written answers
Thursday, 3 February 2022
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Schemes
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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302. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of the free travel scheme in 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5722/22]
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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313. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in the free travel scheme by age; the annual cost to the State of this scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5720/22]
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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314. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in the free travel scheme by category of welfare payment in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5721/22]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 302, 313 and 314 together.
The free travel scheme was introduced in 1967 to promote social inclusion and prevent the isolation of elderly and disabled people by taking advantage of free space on public transport services.
The free travel scheme is available to all persons aged over 66 and those under age 66 on certain qualified payments, who are living legally and permanently in the State. The scheme permits those who are eligible to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, Local Link, LUAS and a range of transport services offered by some 80 private operators countrywide.
The number of customers who were eligible to avail of free travel at the end of 2021 it was 1,022,001. When spousal and companion passes are taken into account, the number of free travel beneficiaries increases to over 1.67 million.
Since 2019, annual funding of €95 million has been allocated for the free travel scheme.
According to the records of my Department, the number of Free Travel recipients broken down by age is shown in the table below: #
| Free Travel recipient age | Number of Recipient |
|---|---|
| 16 - 20 | 12,457 |
| 21 - 30 | 29,654 |
| 31 - 40 | 44,654 |
| 41 -50 | 68,231 |
| 51 - 60 | 85,223 |
| 61 - 70 | 275,992 |
| 71 - 80 | 339,587 |
| 81 - 90 | 141,032 |
| 91 + | 25,171 |
| Total | 1,022,001 |
The number of free travel recipients broken down by social welfare scheme type is provided in the table below:
| Primary Payment | Number of recipients |
|---|---|
| Blind persons pension | 1,338 |
| Carer's allowance | 57,761 |
| Deserted wife's allowance | 41 |
| Deserted wife's benefit | 3,874 |
| Occupational injuries benefit | 612 |
| Disability allowance | 121,614 |
| Invalidity pension | 68,274 |
| State pension (contributory) | 495,048 |
| State pension (non- contributory) | 87,714 |
| Widow(er)'s (contributory) pension | 68,936 |
| Widows (non contributory) pension | 545 |
| Other qualified persons not in receipt of a social welfare payment (such as recipients of occupational or foreign pensions) | 116,244 |
| Total | 1,022,001 |
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
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