Written answer
Social Welfare Eligibility
As of 31 August 2026, 1,180,276 people held free travel passes, including 12,280 Ukrainian protection beneficiaries; expenditure was unavailable by qualifying category.
83. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons holding a free travel pass on 31 August 2026, by qualifying category including State pension, disability allowance, invalidity pension, blind pension and carer's allowance recipients; the beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine, where applicable, international protection applicants, where applicable, and all other qualifying categories; and the estimated cost to the Exchequer of providing free travel under each category in each of the past five years. [67316/26]
Comment on this
As of 31 August 2026, a total of 1,180,276 recipients held a free travel pass. The breakdown by qualifying scheme is provided in the table below:
As of the 31 August, there were 12,280 recipients of the Free Travel scheme who were beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine.
The annual expenditure for the Free Travel scheme for each of the last 5 years is provided in the table below in millions of euro. Expenditure is reported at the scheme level and we are unable to break down expenditure by the qualifying category for recipients.