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Public Transport.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2004

Thursday, 7 October 2004

Questions (119)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

119 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the reason civil servants can only buy the taxsaver commuter ticket in January; the further reason it is only available to permanent staff in view of the practice of many State employers to employ many staff on a temporary contract initially; if he will review the operation of this scheme in order to make it more accessible to employees in order to encourage the use of public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23993/04]

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Written answers

The Civil Service travel pass scheme was approved in 2001 and has been in operation since 1 January 2002. The operation of the scheme has been kept under review since then and information clarifying certain issues was sent to all Departments by my Department in June of this year. I have arranged for a copy of that notice to be forwarded to the Deputy. Subject to the requirements of individual Departments in relation to administrative efficiency, the Civil Service travel pass scheme may be availed of by staff employed on a permanent or probationary basis, including those initially recruited on a temporary basis, and to staff employed under fixed-term contracts. The implementation of travel pass schemes in areas of the public service other than the Civil Service would be a matter for the relevant employing bodies.

While it is a requirement of the Revenue Commissioners that the choice to obtain a travel pass in lieu of salary which is exercisable by employees in both the public or private sectors cannot be made more frequently than once a year, the Civil Service scheme does not preclude staff from exercising that option at different times during the year. This and other issues were clarified in the notice issued by my Department in June 2004. However, for administrative efficiency purposes, some Departments may exercise limits as to the number of operative dates that they can allow in any annual period.

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