Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 October 2005
25 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress to date in 2005 regarding the logistics of allowing Irish senior citizens in Britain to have access to free travel when they return on visits here; if he is close to finalising details for such a proposal; the timeframe for its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30957/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra45 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has considered allowing older persons in rural areas where public transport is not available to use private taxi or hackney services as part of the free travel scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30841/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra60 Dr. Cowley asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if free travel will be extended to older Irish emigrants at the very least to Irish pensioners living in the UK when they return here on their holidays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30775/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra217 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of recipients of free travel allowance; his plans to extend the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31259/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra221 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to extend the free travel scheme to areas which lack public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31263/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 25, 45, 60, 217 and 221 together.
The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years, or over. It is also available to carers and to people with disabilities who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments. It applies to travel within the State and cross border journeys between here and Northern Ireland.
The 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 services provided by over 80 private transport operators. The vast majority of private contractors providing services under the scheme operate in rural areas. The underlying feature of the scheme is the use of spare capacity on these transport services.
I am always willing to consider applications from licensed private transport operators who may wish to participate in the free travel scheme. However, while my Department pays transport providers to operate the free travel scheme, it is not in a position to provide transport services where none exist.
Various alternatives to the existing system, including the use of vouchers, have been examined. A study published in 2000 under the Department's programme of expenditure reviews concluded that a voucher type system, which would be open to a wide range of transport providers including taxis and hackneys, would be extremely difficult to administer, open to abuse and unlikely to be sufficient to afford an acceptable amount of travel. This position remains unchanged.
The issue of access to public transport in rural areas is being addressed at present through the rural transport initiative, which is being managed by Area Development Management on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport. My Department contributed €500,000 to the initiative in 2004 and is contributing €575,000 for the initiative for 2005. This will ensure that free travel pass holders continue to have full access to community based transport services.
There have been a number of requests and inquiries in relation to the extension of entitlement to free travel to Irish born people living outside Ireland, particularly in the UK. This issue has now been examined in considerate detail. The legal advice available to me is that such a proposal would be contrary to the EC Treaty, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of nationality. While taking this advice on board, I intend to continue to examine any options that remain available.
Significant improvements have been made to the free schemes, including the free travel scheme, in recent budgets both in terms of the qualifying conditions and the coverage of the schemes. I will continue to review the operation of these schemes with a view to identifying the scope for further improvements as resources permit.
