John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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566. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide a breakdown, by county, of the number of people who have received the free travel pass since it was extended to persons who are medically unable to drive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32352/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public transport services and and on private transport services operating the Free Travel scheme. There are over 1.1 million customers with direct eligibility for Free Travel.

As part of Budget 2024, Free Travel was extended to people who are medically certified as unfit to drive.

From 29th July 2024, the measure extended access to the Free Travel scheme to:

• people who have never been medically fit to drive due to a disability; and
• drivers who have a license and have been deemed medically unfit to drive for a period of one year or longer.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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567. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide a breakdown, by county, of the number of persons over 70 who have qualified for the fuel allowance since the means test for over 70s was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32353/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Since the 6th of January 2023, the criteria for eligibility for Fuel Allowance was lowered specifically for people aged 70 and over compared to the standard cohort aged 66 and over. To increase the number of people aged 70 qualifying, the income limit was increased to €500 per week for singles and €1,000 per week for couples, savings of €50,000 were excluded and no qualifying social welfare payment was required.

Based on annual statistics from 2022, there were 149,651 people aged 70 years and over in receipt of Fuel Allowance. Of these 22,068 (14.7%) were new recipients of Fuel Allowance under the previous criteria before the 6th of January 2023.

The introduction of the new criteria in 2023 saw a significant increase of 40,035 new recipients of Fuel Allowance due to the lowering of the threshold and restrictions for people aged 70 years and over in receipt of Fuel Allowance.

In 2024 there were 19,889 new recipients aged 70 years or over of Fuel Allowance. The table below outlines the number of persons over 70 who have qualified for the fuel allowance in 2022 and since the means test was changed in 2023 and 2024.

As announced in Budget 2025, from the 1st January 2025, the Fuel Allowance qualifying conditions for those aged over 70 were extended to those aged over 66 and the means threshold increased to €524 for a single person and €1,048 for a couple.