Joe Costello
Question:972 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people in receipt of free travel under the various schemes by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1107/03]
Written Answers. - Free Travel Scheme.
Joe Costello
Question:973 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the moneys paid out by her Department to CIE, its subsidiaries and other transport companies to operate the free travel schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1108/03]
Joe Costello
Question:974 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of duplicate replacement travel passes which have been issued by her Department in 2003; the mechanisms to counteract fraud and abuse of the scheme; the number of prosecutions initiated by her Department to date relating to passes confiscated due to fraud and abuse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1109/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 972, 973 and 974 together.
Free travel is available to all persons aged 66 or over, and to categories of people under that age who are in receipt of social welfare support for invalidity, visual impairment and carers. At end December 2002 there were 635,998 free travel passes in existence for the relevant client groups.
In 2002 approximately €46.2 million was spent on the scheme. The CIE group of companies received approximately €40.4 million, the private transport operators some €2.8 million and the cross-Border free travel scheme, covering certain public and private operator services, accounted for approximately €3 million. The amount paid to CIE is paid to the group of companies as a whole and is apportioned internally by CIE between the constituent companies.
On average, about 1,000 replacement passes are issued per month to customers where their existing pass was lost, damaged or stolen. About 700 replacement passes have been issued in 2003 to date. My Department is conscious of the need to control and prevent abuse of the scheme. In this regard, my Department is involved in discussions with the Department of Transport and the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA, regarding the development of a more secure travel card.
Transport operators are kept aware of the different types of pass on issue to the various categories of customer and advised to contact the Department in suspected cases of misuse. Customers living in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford are required to add CIE photo-identity to their free travel pass. A further control is applied in the case of an individual who reports a number of free travel passes lost, stolen or confiscated. It is departmental policy in these cases to issue the customer with a temporary pass only, which may not be further replaced until the date on the temporary pass has expired.
The small private operators of the free travel scheme are reimbursed for individual journeys undertaken by pass holders and in these circumstances cases of abuse have not been detected. In the case of the remaining operators, payment in respect of free travel services is on a fixed price basis. It is in the interest of these operators to apply controls of various kinds at present to present fraudulent misuse and if any arises the cost is borne by the transport operator directly, as is the case with any form of fare evasion. However, while there is no direct impact on scheme expenditure through abuse, the Department is always willing to co-operate to the greatest extent possible with CIE and other relevant transport operators in dealing with any scheme abuse cases.