We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AN ASSOCIATION REPRESENTING the rights of older people has urged the government to protect free travel in the upcoming budget.
Active Retirement Ireland (ARI) will hold an event at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin on Monday to highlight the need for the scheme which the body says is an “essential lifeline” for vulnerable older people.
Currently everyone aged 66 and over living permanently in Ireland is entitled to the free travel scheme which is available on all public bus, rail and Dublin’s Luas services.
However this scheme could be in jeopardy in the upcoming budget and ARI said it is an issue of serious concern for its members.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Chief Executive of ARI, Maureen Kavanagh said the scheme is an important “social support” and was initially put in place to ensure a better quality of life for older people.
Kavanagh said that older people, particularly in rural areas, rely on their free travel pass to go about their everyday lives and it can help them to avoid becoming socially isolated.
“They use it to get to the bank and the Post Office to collect their pensions but they also use it to go to the hairdressers or to a cafe for a cup of tea which means they’re contributing to the local economy,” she said.
Many older people use the pass to travel to hospital appointments and Kavanagh said that if it were taken away it could have “devastating” effects for the organisation’s members.
These benefits are the things that enable them to stay well and stay active and there’s a huge danger that this whole cohort of society are going to be hit in different ways. This is the generation that worked in the country all their lives, paid the highest taxes and many of them feel like they’re barely living above the poverty line on the contributory pension.
The Department of Social Protection said the cost of the free travel scheme has risen substantially over the last ten years from €45.8 million for almost 608,000 customers in 2001 to over €75 million for approximately 726,000 customers in 2011.
The funding for the scheme has been frozen at 2010 levels of expenditure of €77 million as set by the previous government in the National Recovery Plan 2011 – 2014.
The Department said it “appreciates the important role that free travel plays in promoting social inclusion and preventing the isolation of elderly and disabled people”.
A choir made up of members of Multyfarnham Active Retirement Association in Co Westmeath will perform at ARI’s event on Monday which starts at 12.30pm. The organisation will also present research findings on the impact of membership of the organisation on the lives of older people.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It would be real sign of the times if this was taken away. Elderly folk and free travel just go hand in hand in my mind! It would be a very low punch if they move to remove this age old privilege!!!
it’s not like driving is an option for them either, most i know have failed the eye exam. you can’t dwindle their already limited funds by forcing them to pay to get around. cut the free passes for all the young fellas barging on to the buses, make them walk.
There are thousands if elderly who own and use cars. Why have they got free travel too?
Every user should pay something for every journey.
If you work all your life and contribute to the economy the least you should get is free travel. Regardless of what you earned in that time. If the scheme is being abused then that needs to be dealt with not a blanket ban for all.
What about all the tax evaders in the 1980s, should they get free travel?
Free travel, free TV, free medical, ESB units, Subsidies and a big weekly pension to name just a few perks.
Seems like a big reward just for getting old.
Let us all provide for ourselves and stop this freebie culture.
It’s killing us.
It would be tough to abuse it though wouldn’t it. You’re either old age or not… I’d hate to see free travel for elderly rescinded. My grandad uses it all the time. He worked so hard his whole life. Now he needs this small lifeline as he ages. It’s not that costly when put into perspective. It’s the kind of thing I happily pay taxes for. Leave it alone, government!
The Irish people as saps, as soon as someone pass the age of 65, the enter sainthood, they were all model citizens, tax payers and positive contributors to society, you would wonder why the country is in a mess, nothing to do with the elders voting for parish pump politics for the last 50 years.
Gary if a pearson gets a pension of ?100k pa from the state why should all these freebies come as a right? there as more needy purple in society.
damn predictive text. I meant “needy people”
@Mad Taoiseach: Listen “WINGER” When you get old you’ll be just the same, although if Ireland is so short of Cash, charge the “Robbing Bankers” that steal from us all the time, it’s OK your only trying to get your own money out of the Bank. Many Pensioners scrape a poor life out for themselves through no fault of their own, perhaps their Husband has passed away, or the opposite their Wife of say 30+ years has passed away, I can imagine you in the Xmas Story you’d be “Scrooge” I’m sure???
€75,000,000 to service 726,000 customers you say which works out at approximately €103 per customer. Nothing wrong there! However where is the actual cost coming from if the Bus, train or Luas is travelling anyhow? Perhaps they should look at the admin cost or expenditure and get value for money instead of trying to cut it. Mr. Government I feel you are looking for the easy option yet again!
You are dead right, the services are running anyway, it’s not as if they are taking up all the seats, or extra buses/ trains are laid on. I fail to see where the expense is.
I’m with you Martin on that . My mother had to travel from Sligo to Dublin for treatment st Luke’s she would not have been able to afford it but for free travel , also most oh the time free travellers are using transport later in the day avoiding rush hours etc . Ireland leads the world on its care for the elderly and I do mean leads .
The only expense is in subsidising the general service. If the government needs to make saving that way, the free travel pass isn’t the expense. They will cut the subsidy to the transport providers, meaning that routes will be cut, for EVERYBODY. Not just pensioners! So that service you use to get to work might just vanish overnight because, without it being subsidised by the free travel scheme, it’s not viable. In fact, Bus Eireann have already started to drastically prune back their services ahead of the budget (what do they know that we dont?)
And let’s not forget carers in this. They are entitled to, and need free travel. There are little enough perks to what is a tough and isolating job. Free travel gives them a lifeline to some sort of social interaction that wouldn’t be affordable otherwise, not to mention having to visit their charges if they are in hospital, keeping doctors appointments etc.
The bus,train or Luas wouldn’t run without the €75,000,000.00
Nothing runs for free.
@Ann Mcwilliams: Stop boasting Lass in fact many a Country takes care of it’s older People far better than Ireland, India, China,Japan and the Philippines etc and they don’t stick them ibn Care Homes either.So either get your facts correct or say nothing at all.
As with children’s allowance ….. Means test it !
I have the free pass for just over a year now if we lose it I will be severely restricted. Take it of the dole scrounges first, we all know who they are in our own area’s these are the abusers not genuine benefit recipients caused by the current financial situation or pensioners such as me. What about cutting TDs travel expenses which truly are an obscene amount.
The idea behind taxation is that the authorities tax people who are economically active. Charing for public transport is equivalent to imposing tax, as the bus depart with or without them, especially when it’s given for free to people above 66 at present.
Therefore, it makes no sense to start charging the elderly now. The gain in revenue isn’t worth the fact that the government will confine many our parents to their home, people who otherwise would go shopping, take part in activities etc.
Please stop digging into the pocket of economically inactive people in order to cover the mess Irish banks caused. You’d be better of cutting the pensions of bankers who brought us to this dire straits rather than chasing innocent people who worked hard all their life…
Tax cyclists and make them pay insurance.
Insurance for what? Writing off a car?
Have you seen some cyclists lately? Writing off your car is the least you should be worried about. Many Cyclists use the road as though they own it, as though everybody else should make way, and whether or not that’s true I don’t know, but before everybody descends upon me – all ill day is traffic lights apply to cyclists too!
Insurance for damage and injury caused by cyclists.
The tax can be used to subsidise free travel for travel pass holders.
I forgot to recommend that Gardai should issue on the spot fines to cyclists for law breaking and introduce a penalty point system for rogue cyclists. A few court appearances wouldn’t do any harm either.
Don’t get me wrong. Many of my friends are great cyclists.
@Mad Taoiseach: Dutch National Cycle Network
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in-the-netherlands/
stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2012/08/15/no-1-bicycles-bikes/
I’ve worked over in Holland several times now, and there all Cyclists have Road tax and have Insurance and abide by the LAW, Bikes also have to have proper Lights on at Night, strobe Lights are illegal, there are cycles only tracks, you won’t have a car hit you more like a collision with a bike. As all bikes have to have a bell or a means of Warning pedestrians! Going down a Street or Road (Strasse) the wrong way will earn you an on the Spot fine! It should be the same in Ireland?
How about if you paid ?150 a year for a travel pass, that’s ?3 a week. I don’t think that’s entirely unreasonable. A small contribution for a public service…
I would agree with that. It makes sense.
With the trains and buses traveling anyway , for God sake leave the old folk alone ! I would focus more on cutting social on the youth . It’s a bit of tough love but they would benefit in the long run . Many of our youth are settling in to a life style of dole being the way to go . Many seem to believe that if they can’t be the MD then they don’t want the job ! This is not a criticism ! However nobody can be happy on the dole for life as they can never grow into the people that they could be …
I believe that problem with “free” is lack of accountability. We can’t tell who is actually using public transport, how often, which lines etc. Yearly smart card sounds like a good solution.
Bingo! Analyse the data, because nobody actually knows whether its being used or not – there’s plenty say yes they do, but I have a feeling the average number of journeys was 2 returns a week. Put a proper system in place where cards have to be scanned so that data can actually be verified!
Sounds like an additional cost to me…
For starters the pensioner travel pass could be put onto Leap Cards in Dublin.
Right now they need to have some form of photo ID on them. The system is so widely abused by non-pensioners that in Northern Ireland you can’t use the free travel pass – you have to apply for their version of the pass so they can identify genuine users.
@Brian Daly: Strange enough Mate but the ROI Free Pas can be used in the North!
FG/ Labour! Will take everything the can from the most vulnerable. An absolute given! I’d say.
There is no justification for continuing the free Aircoach scheme, not an essential service.
Or free travel to attend protest marches against the Government.
FF increased benefits to pensioners to levels that are unsustainable, the cohort paying for these benefits aren’t going to be retiring until they are 68 at a minimum. Plenty of older people are solvent unlike the people paying for the benefits.
There are plenty of older people, especially if they are a couple, who have more money than they can spend because of the generous benefits they receive.
I personally know an old couple who have said they should not be getting half of what they receive as they don’t need it. They get €460 a week straight out for the pension, so just over €1,800 per month. On top of that there’s fuel allowance in the winter, a free TV licence, free medical, ESB units, eircom line rental paid and free travel. Because they own their home outright, they have virtually no expenses, bar what they buy at the supermarket. A lot of those allowances could admittedly be handed back but they haven’t done it as they’re currently using the money to finance some of their grandchildren in college. Their children aren’t able to pay the costs of college with the way things currently are because as always, Middle Ireland is getting screwed.
I do believe that older people need to be looked after. These are the people that brought our country from being the poorest backwater in Europe to what it is today. But when the nation cannot afford to pay the bills, everyone has to pitch in somewhat. Right now, we’re choosing to have one teacher in a prefab deal with 32 Junior Infants, who are the future of Ireland, rather than touching any of the older generations benefits. We’re choosing to close A&E’s which everyone use, rather than take the free TV licence away.
Blanket cuts across the board in relation to the older generations are not the answer as elderly people live in a huge variety of circumstances, but means testing, or something along those lines is needed. They cannot be immune to the pain of austerity anymore. We’re facing into our 6th and a half austerity budget (the half is the emergency budget in 2009) and the only hit that I can recall that older people have taken is the 50c charge per prescription item.
I’ve a free travel pass because I’ve cerebral palsy and will have it for as long as the scheme is there. It’s vital for me, However I’d be open to the idea of paying something small even if it were a euro per journey. Same as paying 50 cent on a prescription. If I’d a car the govt wouldn’t pay my petrol.
Elderly are too powerful a lobby for the government to screw with. Welfare is too high, pensions are too high, benefits are too generous. As someone squarely in the squeezed middle I have had enough. Cut cut cut. Start on semi states especially Electric Ireland. Crazy what engineers are paid, no wonder ESB bills are so high. Lower bills, lower welfare.
Why cut engineers? Is it because they spend three years (first year is not so hard) in the library not enjoying college like most?
Stephen you are so right. Despite the huge majority this government are incapable of making and sticking to a decision.
FG are looking for an overall majority at next election.
Labour are busy feathering their own nests. They make FF look like saints.
Can the author confirm if the numbers are the total for the Free Travel scheme or just over 65′s?
Outside of the over 65′s it’s widely know that the Free Travel scheme is widely abused and out of control. This is where the reforms need to be.
The government wont touch the free travel as the Pensioners will be out in force protesting. They’re the only people in Ireland that have the balls to stand up to this government and wont back down or give up.
Common sense needs to apply. A fair qualifying threshold should apply.
Any pensioner with an income of more than ?50k annually should not qualify for free travel or other freebies.
Afterall there are people rearing families on a lot less.
The risk yet again is that needy pensioners will be hurt because of greedy pensioners.
Richard, most people have an occupational pension in addition to the state pension…………… school teachers, guards, nurses, tds, doctors, lawyers ….
@Bruce, thanks, I accept that but a lot of would be needed to separate those on €200 a week from those on €900 a week, and if this was done then , I agree, changes would be desirable.
I would agree on Free Travel for the Elderly. But I think people under 65 who have the pass should pay some sort of fare depending on the journey they are going on.The reality is the country is broke. So what can one do?The pass can also be abused as well. Mabye look at cutting where you can travel with it. If you want top go on long journeys that is up to people themselves therefore that is a choice and they should pay some sort of fare.
The bus pass is a very complicated issue.There were some suggestions in comments that they charge fee of about 100 or so euros a year for the pass. If they did that it would bring in quite a substantial amount to exchequer,We hear the the public transport system is in deficit. so this money that they would generate by charging an annual fee for the pass could be injected to upgrade Buses and trains. So everybody benefits.
the word free should he totally eradicated from the entire department as someone has to pay , also 700k people when their is only 2 million working , sums don’t add up ,
and frankly it’s the working poor that need a taxpayers travel pass
Take the social welfare passes which are used by young drug couriers to distribute drugs from Dublin to Sligo
and towns in between an who hassle passengers on the train on the journey as well. The government to look at what happened when they tried to tax children’s clothes and shoes. If the free pass is interfered with we will all vote shin fein next time note that.
There is no such thing as a free lunch there comes a time when we have to be realistic. In the good times it was okay but now things have changed and we have to make changes in the way Free Travel and other things are dished out. We can only live within our means and cut our cloth to suite our measure. Okay the Banks had to be Bailed out. We could give out about it till Kingdom Come. What i s done is done now we have to move on and see what improvements can be made.
is it true that pensioners can bring a helper for free on their travels with them? e.g. a son or daughter?
Yes Matthew I’m sure that is the case
Not true. They must prove the need for it from a doctor, etc and must apply for it. Its not autimatic once you have the pass.
have your say