Denis Naughten
Question:36 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will extend the companion travel pass to cover a wider category of persons. [29686/00]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Jim Higgins
Question:45 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if it is proposed to extend the free travel pass to taxis particularly in view of the difficulties being encountered by people with disabilities in rural areas in accessing public transport. [28058/00]
Michael Finucane
Question:55 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will establish a social transport fund. [29684/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 36, 45 and 55 together.
The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by semi-State companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as services provided by some 80 private transport operators. The vast majority of these private contractors operate in rural areas. My Department is always willing to consider further applications from licensed private transport operators who may wish to participate in the free travel scheme.
A review of the free schemes was published in April this year by the Policy Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The review considered the difficulties involved in access to public transport services and noted that there are two main groups affected: those who have a disability which prevents them using the service and those for whom a service does not exist, which mainly affects those living in rural areas. This problem, which is unrelated to the free travel scheme, is part of a wider social and infrastructural problem, affecting all those who are disadvantaged and who can neither afford their own transport or avail of access to public transport.
The review notes that while my Department pays transport providers to operate the free travel scheme, it is not obliged to provide services where none exist, nor is it in a position to provide vehicles accessible to people with disabilities. These are matters for the transport providers concerned and for my colleague the Minister for Public Enterprise who has responsibility for public transport.
The review examined a number of alternatives to the existing system including a voucher system or cash payment to those who qualify for the scheme. It considered that such types of systems, which would be open to a wide range of transport providers including taxis and hackneys, would be complicated and less feasible than the current system. Voucher schemes, by their nature, introduce stigma to a scheme.
In addition, they are administratively not feasible, particularly if issued annually, as the number of vouchers and potential operators would be enormous. Furthermore, vouchers or cashing out would do little to facilitate the provision of public transport services where none exist, nor would it facilitate the provision of accessible public transport. This is evident from the various complaints concerning access to wheelchair taxis in Dublin despite the large numbers in existence, a problem which is significantly exacerbated in rural areas.
The review of the free schemes does recommend that a social transport fund be supported and made available to voluntary and community based organisations for the provision of local transport initiatives that would be unlikely to operate without a subsidy. Such a fund would be mainly social in nature and could facilitate provision of wheelchair accessible vehicles.
The review considered it appropriate that such a fund could be managed locally, perhaps by the local authorities, in view of their knowledge of local services and to maintain community autonomy. In this regard, an interdepartmental working group on rural transport has recently been established, chaired by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and including a representative from my Department, to consider how best to address the rural transport deficit.
The group has been charged with the development of a template that can be used by each county development board in carrying out a comprehensive countywide audit of rural passenger transport services to establish the extent to which people in rural Ireland have or do not have access to such services and to establish reasonable rural passenger transport needs. In this regard, a tender has recently issued to consultants for technical assistance in the drawing up of such a template.
I understand that the audits will serve two main purposes, i.e. form part of the wide ranging audit of services which is being undertaken by each county development board in the context of their preparation of their county strategy for economic, social and cultural development and to assist the Government in developing policy proposals on rural passenger transport.
With regard to free travel companion passes, these passes have been available since 1990 to certain people who qualify for free travel and who, on account of their disability, are unable to travel alone. The companion pass enables a person 16 years of age, or over, to accompany the pass holder free of charge.
The review examined the issue of extending the companion free travel pass scheme to other people with disabilities and noted that CIE has expressed concerns about the operation of the companion pass, in particular that anecdotal evidence would suggest that some pass holders are quite capable of travelling alone. In this regard, the review notes that companion passes should be issued only to people who have definite needs.
However, in view of the free travel scheme's objective to encourage recipients to remain mobile, the review recommends that a free travel companion pass should be issued to all people in receipt of invalidity pension who are unable to travel alone. This would standardise the qualifying conditions for a companion pass for both invalidity pension and disability allowance.
The review's proposal in this regard, which has expenditure implications, will be considered in context of future budgets.