Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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1056. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to provide public transport financial relief to carers. [39121/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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1057. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to extend free travel for all carers. [39122/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1056 and 1057 together.

The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are over one million customers with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2023 is €95 million.

It is important to note that, in general, access to a free travel pass for those aged under 66 is linked to a person being in receipt of certain primary Social Protection payments such as Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Carer’s Allowance, Blind Pension and Partial Capacity Benefit. Therefore, the free travel pass is a secondary benefit directly linked to the person being in receipt of Carer's Allowance.

Therefore, while a carer may be providing care to a person who needs support, entitlement to a free travel pass is linked to entitlement to the Carer's Allowance payment and is not issued solely because a person is providing care. Extending the eligibility of the free travel scheme to carers not in receipt of a qualifying Social Welfare payment such as Carer's Allowance would change the nature of the scheme and would require additional funding and administrative staff and would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

Finally, I would like to highlight that the Department does provide Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers and may be paid to assist with ongoing or recurring travel costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary. Every decision is based on consideration of the circumstances of the individual 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.