Social Welfare Schemes Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14 ============================================================ Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an Seanadóir Keogan as an ábhar seo a ardú. There is not much that I disagree with the Senator on but, as she knows, there are considerable practicalities in much of this, which I will go through. The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services in this State for those eligible. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as the Luas and additional services provided by over 70 private transport operators. The all-Ireland free travel scheme is a reciprocal agreement between the Department of Social Protection and the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. It represents an agreement under which institutions in this State and in Northern Ireland recognise free travel arrangements for older people in each jurisdiction as equivalent arrangements. The all-Island free travel scheme became operational in April 2007. The scheme enables those aged 66 and over and resident in the Republic to travel free of charge on all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland. Likewise, seniors in Northern Ireland travel free of charge on bus, rail and ferry services participating in the free travel scheme in this State. As part of the agreement, the Northern Ireland authorities require that customers here wishing to avail of free travel in the North should do so using a senior smartpass as used for free travel by their Northern Ireland counterparts. This senior smartpass is compatible with electronic card readers used on Northern Ireland services. People from Northern Ireland can just present the senior smartpass to the operators in the free travel scheme here, and they will be issued with a ticket for travel. Under the arrangements, the Northern authorities pay for travel undertaken within Northern Ireland by senior smartpass holders resident here, and Department of Social Protection pays for travel undertaken here by senior smartpass holders resident in Northern Ireland. As the Senator said, a separate application is required to receive a senior smartpass. However, this is not an overly burdensome process. The Department has no objection to the Senator’s proposal, and I will ask my officials to work on examining options with the relevant Northern Ireland authorities to facilitate more seamless cross-Border travel. However, there are a number of practical issues that we also have to table. Removing the need for separate applications or additional travel passes would require agreement, as well as integrated IT systems that would be able to accept and identify when the various travel passes are used to ensure proper remuneration to those who provide the travel service. The various integrated ticketing systems that are used by transport providers are not funded by the Department of Social Protection, and the Department has no role in the provision or funding of such systems or instructing transport providers to invest in them. My Department is, of course, available to help any free travel pass holder with their application for a senior smartpass, and I will look at promoting that service. As well as that, I will ask the officials to engage with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, around what else we can do to expand and make this service easier. I must also point out that through the shared island fund, the Government is making significant investment in travel infrastructure in Northern Ireland in road, rail, bus and public transport. We want to continue to do that. While the Senator raised a solid issue, the practicalities are immense. I am happy to examine how we can address those. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-14