Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2023
54. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider allowing persons in receipt of disability allowance, blind pension, carer's allowance or an invalidity pension to remain part of the free travel scheme if they return to employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46446/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraWill the Minister consider allowing persons in receipt of disability allowance or the blind pension to remain part of the free travel scheme if they return to employment and will make a statement on the matter? Carer's allowance and invalidity pension were mistakenly included in my original written question because of an oversight.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are more than 1 million customers with direct eligibility. This increases to 1.75 million customers when spouses and companions are included. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2023 is €95 million. Since 2017, people moving from certain long-term disability schemes are able to retain their free travel entitlement for a further period of five years, provided they previously had an entitlement to free travel. Customers moving from the blind pension to employment do not lose their entitlement to a free travel pass and, as such, retain the pass on an ongoing basis.
As part of budget 2024, I was particularly pleased to announce the expansion of my Department’s free travel pass to support people medically certified as unable to drive. There will be no requirement that a person must be in receipt of a social welfare payment to qualify for a free travel pass on these medical grounds, provided the other qualifying criteria are met. The measure could benefit people who return to work and who would otherwise lose their free travel entitlement after five years. If they are deemed medically unfit to drive for a period of one year or longer, they may qualify for the medical grounds free travel pass. The implementation date for the measure is July 2024. This will allow my Department to develop a new administrative process, engage with outside agencies and transport providers and to make the necessary IT updates. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
I tabled this question because we have a poor rate of employment for disabled people. Of those of working age, disabled people are only half as likely to be employed as those without a disability. The average employment rate among disabled people in Europe is 51%, but in Ireland it is only 32.6%. With Greece, we are the joint worst, but that country has a very low rate of employment anyway, while we have a healthy rate. This actually makes our rate worse because the employment gap is greater.
Many disabled people who come before the Joint Committee on Disability Matters state that the loss of secondary benefits is one of the main reasons, and there are many, for not working. Medical cards are another major reason, but this issue is outside the remit of the Minister's Department. The other major aspect is the free travel pass. I know people can keep the pass for five years, but taking the cost of disability into account, could this be extended? Perhaps it could be based on earnings. Many disabled people who lose their free travel pass after five years, unfortunately, may not be earning huge amounts of money because much of their work is part-time in nature. Being able to keep the free travel pass longer is important because losing it will add extra costs for them.
Ireland is behind the average EU rates for the employment of people with disabilities. I have worked to enhance the supports we have in my Department, whether it is the employability programme, the reasonable accommodation fund, the WorkAbility programme or the wage subsidy scheme for people with disabilities. I was delighted to bring in changes in this budget. There had not been any changes in the Department's free travel pass scheme for many years, but I got approval to extend the free travel pass to people medically unfit to drive. This means they will get the free travel pass regardless of whether they are receiving a social welfare payment. It means that people who have a disability and who cannot have a licence to drive to work because they have been certified as being medically unfit to drive will qualify to get the free travel pass. This will help a good number of people who have disabilities to have access to their workplaces.
The whole focus here is to get away from the situation where disabled people sometimes look at returning to employment but realise they would be better off staying on the disability payment because of the additional benefits they get. I ask that as many changes as possible be made in this regard to encourage as many people as possible to get back into the workforce. The Minister mentioned those who are medically unfit to drive and the free travel pass being extended to them. Could she elaborate on this point? I am unclear as to how someone is deemed unfit to drive. Is this in any way related to the primary medical certificate? Is it different from it?
I refer to the assessment in this regard, because it is very stringent. I am wondering what the criteria would be like to allow someone to be deemed medically unfit to drive. Many people apply for the primary medical certificate but they are not in a position to access public transport, so even the provision of a free travel pass to them would not be of any benefit because there are no public transport services in their areas. It is very difficult, however, to get the primary medical certificate to allow people to avail of the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme, so how stringent are the criteria to allow people to be deemed medically unfit to drive?
I did a lot of work with Epilepsy Ireland, because this is probably the best example in this regard. People who have epilepsy are put off the road and cannot drive. I engaged, therefore, with Epilepsy Ireland on this issue and have been doing so for some time. I met representatives of the organisation several times. I know people who have epilepsy and it is not easy for them because they just cannot get to work as they cannot drive. If they could get access to transport, then they would be in a much better position. They would be able to have the flexibility that comes with this access to transport.
If someone loses his or her licence due to a seizure, that is awful. What I want to do in this regard is to extend the free travel pass to those deemed medically unfit to drive. This will not only benefit those with epilepsy but also anybody with a medical condition or disability that prevents them from driving. If someone is put off the road because of epilepsy, it is obvious that is it. There are other cases where people have other conditions which mean they also cannot drive. It will be up to the medics to certify that people in this situation are unfit to drive for one year or more. It will be necessary for people to be off the road for one year or more. They can then have their medical assessment with their GP.
