I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 68 together.
The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years, or over, and to all carers in receipt of carer's allowance. It is also available to people with disabilities under that age who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. Companion passes are also available to certain groups who qualify for the scheme in their own right but who, because of a disability, cannot travel on their own.
The scheme is being further extended from this month to allow Free Travel to carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relatives allowance.
The scheme provides free travel on a range of services provided by the CIE group of companies as well as on the services provided by over 70 private transport operators. The vast majority of these private contractors operate in rural areas. The Department is always willing to consider further applications from licensed private transport operators who may wish to participate in the free travel scheme.
The full year cost of free travel scheme for 1999 is approximately £34.5 million and at the end of March 1999, over 537,000 free travel passes had been issued.
The free travel scheme was originally designed to benefit mainly older people in receipt of social welfare pensions to encourage them to remain active in the community. However, over the years, additional categories of people have been added to scheme and the range of services available to them is being expanded as opportunities present themselves.
A fundamental review of the free schemes, including the free travel scheme, has commenced in order to assess whether the objectives of these schemes are being achieved in the most efficient and effective manner.
The review is being undertaken by the policy institute in TCD in association with the Department and it is expected that it will be completed and published by the policy institute in October or November this year. The conclusions of the review will then be considered in a budgetary context, as appropriate.