449. Deputy John Lahart asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the amount of tax relief for the bike-to-work scheme that has been provided for the years 2022-2025 inclusive, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39356/26]

488. Deputy John Lahart asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the cost to the State of the bike-to-work scheme for each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40260/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 449 and 488 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, section 118(5G) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for the Bike-to-Work Scheme. This scheme offers an exemption from Benefit-in-kind where an employer purchases a bicycle and/or associated safety equipment for one of their employees (or directors) to use, in whole or in part, to travel to work.

The scheme was introduced as an incentive to increase the number of people commuting to work by bicycle.

The scheme operates on a self-administration basis, and relief is automatically available provided the employer is satisfied that the conditions of their particular scheme meet the requirements of the legislation. The scheme operates on this basis to reduce administrative burden for employers and employees.

As the scheme does not require any notification or application procedure, there are no data centrally available on the number of people availing of the scheme, the types of bicycles or equipment purchased, or a county-by-county breakdown of the recipients.

However, the Department of Finance produce estimates of the costs and number of recipients annually, as part of the annual Tax Expenditures in Ireland report, and the annual publication of the Tax Expenditure Passports. Both of these publications are available on my Department’s website, at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/collections/annual-tax-expenditure-reports-and-tax-expenditure-passports/.

I anticipate that data for 2025 will be available shortly.

The latest published estimates of the cost and number of claims under the scheme are set out in tabular format below.