Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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615. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will consider introducing a mobility support payment or allowance for disabled individuals who face ongoing difficulty accessing public transport and must rely on taxis for essential travel, in light of rising taxi costs and the absence of a dedicated subsidy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38774/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides support to people with disabilities in the form of the Free Travel Scheme. The objective of the Free Travel Scheme is to ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community by providing access to existing public and private transport routes.

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 70 private transport operators.

While the supports provided by my Department such as the Free Travel scheme may be sufficient for many people with disabilities, I understand that other individuals may need additional support. It is for this reason that my Department provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme. My Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers.

Separately, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality is leading on the development of the next National Disability Strategy, which will be a framework for collaborative whole-of-government action on disability policy, including transport and mobility.