Varadkar says pensioners will not lose free travel

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said pensioners will be protected in the review of the free travel scheme but insisted issues around "fraud and IDs" had to be addressed.

Mr Varadkar said the number of people eligible for free travel had grown to more than one million while budgets for transport companies has not increased.

New transport operators were unable to enter the scheme, he added.

“We do need to modernise it and refresh it because the numbers who can avail of it has increased to over a million, but at the same time the money given to transport companies has not increased and new transport operators haven’t been able to get into the scheme,” he said.

“A few issues need to be addressed as well, particularly around fraud and IDs and so on, but any suggestion that we’re going to take away the free travel pass from pensioners just isn’t on the agenda.”

Mr Varadkar said the Government “very much values” the free travel scheme, which is operated by the Department of Social Protection rather than the Department of Transport.

“But what has happened over the years is the number of free passes has increased. It’s now over a million if you include companion passes for example, whereas the budget and the money allocated to transport companies has not increased.

“But the review that’s being done at the moment is with a view to modernising the scheme. It’s not about taking it away. That’s not our agenda at all as a Government.”

He was speaking at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Luas in Dublin city centre this morning.

Transport providers have threatened to withdraw from the free travel scheme on the basis that it is not covering the cost of offering the service.

A Government working group is currently reviewing the future of the €77 million- a-year scheme, which benefits more than 780,000 people every year.

Internal documents show the Department of Social Protection is under increasing pressure from transport operators to increase funding and some firms have threatened to withdraw from the scheme.

Under the travel scheme, pass-holders can travel free on State-funded transport such as Irish Rail and Bus Éireann, as well as services offered by up to 90 private operators across the State.

Funding for free travel has been frozen at the same level for the past four years while the number of pass-holders has increased over the same period of time.