Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 April 2021
103. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider establishing the free travel scheme as a standalone benefit as recommended by the Oireachtas Committee on Transport in 2018 (details supplied); the investigations which have been carried out on this matter to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21010/21]
View answerThe Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are currently approximately 994,000 customers with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2021 is €95 million.
The objective of the Free Travel scheme is to ensure that older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community. The scheme was never intended as a targeted support for people with severe mobility issues.
If the Free Travel scheme was to be extended to all people who had a disability and/or significant health issues, regardless of whether they receive a qualifying payment, a medical assessment process would be required for all such applications, significantly changing the nature of the scheme. Any decision to change the eligibility criteria of the free travel scheme along such lines would have significant costs and require additional administrative processes to be put in place. Accordingly, it could only be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.
Under the “Make Work Pay” Initiative people in receipt of a long term disability payment who move off the payment to get a job can retain their Free Travel entitlement for a period of five years.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department may award a travel supplement, where the circumstances of the particular case so warrant. The supplement is intended to assist with ongoing or recurring travel costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary. Every decision is based on consideration of the circumstances of the individual case, taking account of the nature and extent of the need and of the resources of the person concerned.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
