Vol. 466 No. 1
195 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social Welfare when a medical referee will attend to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo who has applied for the invalidity pension in view of the fact that the delay is causing great hardship. [10926/96]
A medical examination, to be carried out by a medical referee of my Department, has been arranged for the person concerned for Thursday, 13 June 1996 and she has been notified accordingly.
196 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider extending the companion travel pass to old age pensioners over 80 years of age to allow very elderly persons to be accompanied by a younger relative. [10927/96]
The free travel companion pass is a special version of the free travel pass which allows a person 16 years of age or over to accompany the pass holder free of charge.
Currently, the companion pass is available to the following categories of receipients: those getting a blind person's pension from my Department, — people getting a disabled person's maintenance allowance from a health board who are medically certified that they are unfit to travel alone, — recipients of invalidity pension from my Department who are medically certified that they are permanently wheelchair bound, and free travel passholders who are being cared for by a recipient of the carer's allowance.
As announced in the budget, from next July the free travel companion pass is being extended to blind or visually impaired children. There are no plans at the present time to extend the companion pass facility to pensioners over 80 years of age, whether disabled or not. However, the Deputy's suggestion will be borne in mind in the context of the future development of the free travel scheme generally.
