I think it’d be a terrible idea. After retirement pensioners should be encouraged to go out, visit and socialise. This would only worsen the stay at home syndrome.

Point is that the services are running anyway and the cost is fixed regardless of passenger numbers. Pensioners travelling free don’t actually cost anything and would simply not use services if they were forced to pay. Surely it’s one of the only nice things about growing old? I wonder how many pensioners busfares it would take to recoup the ?35bn spent on Anglo?

I get the bus in dublin regularly and I object to the number of young able bodied people who have free travel. Every Junkie and Alcoholic in the city seem to have free travel for themselves and anyone they meet at the bus stop and can pass off as a spouse. They have managed to ruin the Red line of the luas, you feel you are taking a serious risk traveling on it. Take the free travel off everyone who has not got a physical disability or is an old age pensioner. It would make using public transport safer and would save a fortune.

Why arent they talking about talking travel passes off junkies instead? what possible reason is there to justify them having one?

The problem is that when government puts on a “small charge” like €5 for the train, come the next budget it goes up and up until the charge becomes so high they might as well just scrap the scheme altogether.

Why does it cost €77 million to administer this program?

It’s a small example of what they have left , from the lack of respect towards elderly people these days and levies on their private pensions after working all their lives, it should remain free for them , it’s a comfort knowing they can go out and enjoy life knowing they can hop on and off a bus even if it’s just to the shops 1 stop away.. We all won’t be young forever!!

No they shouldn’t. Whenever I’m on the bus and I see an elderly person get on for free after I’ve just paid for it, I don’t feel any animosity toward them. They’ve paid their taxes for the last 40+ years, and this is just a small token. For most elderly people I imagine it’s a great comfort to know they have a free means of travel, and a lot of them probably wouldn’t get around so much if they had to pay for it.

hitting on the elderly, the disabled and the weakest in society again! what a bunch of spineless cowards we have for a government, cant stand up to the banks, or the troika but trample all over those who dont have the means to fight back. get after the bond holders, cut your own ‘travel allowances’ salaries and pensions, reduce your own numbers in the Dail and Seaned (as you promised), hit the wealthy and the ‘tax dodgers’ and make cuts to all the quango’s and special committees you have set up to do your jobs for you. and while your at it ,tell the E.U. that we wont be taking on the presidency as we cant justify paying billions on that while making cut’s else where, just for once do what you are paid to do, run this country for the benefit of ALL its people, not just the chosen few, put the interest of this country before those of european banks and speculators.

Hell no…. have they not given enough.

this is only one aspect of the proposed cuts to pensioners entitlements and is slightly misleading,there are also proposed cuts to electricity and fuel allowances,and given in its full context will affect pensioners greatly …let them have there free passes,i travelled on a local bus lately and out of 16 ppl on the bus i was the only one who paid, didnt bother me in the slighest in fact it was great to see them getting into town to meet friends etc,for some elderly it is probably the only little bit of social interaction they have,and besides it wasnt like they were taking up any seats that could have been used by paying customers as the bus would have been empty without them…let them be

Depends on how rich they are.

OAP’s should stay on the free travel , but the other passes should be revoked. Totally misued by large number of pass holders. Seems every time you get them on its a diffrrent spouse travelling on their pass of its not their pass at all.
SW should not get these passes and especially drug addicts .

I think €5 for a train journey from Galway to Dublin or cork to Dublin is fair enough! Anymore is unfair- when pensioners travel they are normally visiting family or having a day out and will spend money in restaurants, shops etc thus helping the economy.
I think free travel should be taken off certain people claiming disability…the likes of those with addictions or on methodone etc. people on disability payments with physical disability should be allowed free travel.

Why should they? My Dad has a bus pass and it’s give him great freedom. He’s worked and paid tax for 50 years and I think OAPs should be entitled to free travel around a country they helped build

“High earners would also be hit, with anyone earning more than €200,000 set to be penalised.”…..yep, that’s what it says in the article……so I would take the rest of what it says with a pinch of salt,,,The Indo big boys love to stir it big time..

The elderly should remain entitled to free travel. They have been hit harder than most with the household charge, shares in banks etc wiped out, the cost of healthcare etc. Free travel gives them independence. Of course some elderly have never worked but those type of people tend to concentrate on the pub and the bookies rather than train journeys. Yes , some are wealthy but the cost of means testing would negate any potential savings. Let’s target the cuts at the top echelon rather than the elderly and the vulnerable.

Pensioners should’t be charged they are entitled to travel free. Why not take this out of the billions being paid to bondholders and banks? also why not cut ministers income by 20% and their pensions by 30% instead of extorting money out of those who cannot afford it.

As a pensioner and medical card holder myself, I think the free travel should have similar restrictions to the medical card. Means-testing of some sort is surely the fairest way of dealing with it. Also, about four years ago, the FF govt said they were going to issue credit-card-sized travel cards to avoid fraudulent use and that ALL cards would have to bear a photo. Currently, those outside the main cities have no photo.

A lot of pensioners come in to the pub where I work and they built this country and worked hard all their lives.If the travel pass is abolished there will be protests on the Dail. Ps Busy at the moment a lot of student types in and some high brow conversations going on.

the government and whoever else is behind these ideas better be dam careful the grey brigade are the major voters in elections and aren’t afraid of protesting and shaming those disgusting traitors who are worthless crap that sit in the dail so be warned!

Leave pensioners alone, get rid of expense budget for TDS or dont purchase tablet computers for TDS and staffers, or maybe, here’s a novel idea TAX THE WEALTHY !!!!

Should definitely be free for elderly, the true costs are far less than the government say. Most of the time the buses/trains are less than half full. Its not like removing free travel will give a seat to a paying customer.

the bus & rail services run regardless of use by OAPs so removing allowance saves nothing. blanket charges hurt those who can not afford to pay. Time that government tackled the taxing of the wealthy and leave the pensioners alone.

I wouldn’t worry about this one, I’m confident the pensioners on this island will stand up and be counted, they will take to the streets in protest and make their views known, just as they have done numerous times in the past. I wouldn’t have the same sort of confidence in other groups in Ireland who have sat on their hands whilst our country is being dismantled and sold off piece by piece, job by job, one emigrant at a time.

they should have free travel.they have paid there way in life and should be allowed.I think we are all asking the wrong questions.why hit the small guy again go after the big boys once and for all

This is the rock this government will perish on. It will NEVER be implemented as the people on the street will bring this spineless government down with a crash. Lets put a stop to this madness and elect people who will try and then jail the crooks that took this country over the brink. No holding back this time, the government are dead ducks. .

A standard across the board charge of €3 a month for all passes should be imposed. It’s less than 10c a day & give them unlimited travel at non peak times. Travel at peak times & the pass will entitle them to a 50% discount on the fare.

For gods sake leave the old folks alone, they have paid their way all their lives. Many are forced off the road due to bad site etc. They rely on public transport and it should be their right.

The roads are safer while they are on the bus.

NO!

Should be means tested, millionaires have had enough from the taxpayer

It is a disgrace to suggest the elderly pay for travel. It is a privilege given to those in society who have paid their dues by working hard their whole lives paying tax and raising the children of Ireland. I don’t care how much money they have or have not got it is a very very small reward for their contribution to society. Leave it alone.

Don’t forget we’ll all be old one day and I think after a lifetime of working and not getting a pension at the end of it we’ll be grateful for the free travel. Have a heart

No!!!! Never ever. Its a discusting suggestion. Them people have worked and paid tax all their lives. Its the least they deserve. So angry at the mere suggestion

This is one of those political decisions that just isn’t worth making because the odium will far outweigh any savings. That much is clear from all the comments here, a lot of which aren’t even from pensioners! There have to be other savings that can be made without as much fuss being made or people being offended. Dropping this idea would be smarter politically for the Coalition, whatever about the finances. Who was it who took the shilling off the old-age pension, and how long did people remember that…?

isnt FG the Blue shirts ????.

Most pensioners I know couldn’t care less. They’ll just spend more time doing the garden, watching telly and eating in – instead of going into town or on trips to Galway where they might spend some money. Clever economics FG/Lab, real clever. Of course there are some pensioners for whom this will cause real hardship but sure we don’t care about them anyway.

In theory they should travel free but since things are so bad, maybe a once of payment of 10euros or something. Would raise some cash and it wouldnt bankrupt anyone.

Just as long as the money raised isn’t for banks, bond holders and the likes

Nobody should have to pay for anything

You forget these older people have already raised their own families with a lot less help from the State than the families of today are getting, and also taxes were much higher back when these oldies were working. Why should they now have to sacrifice for families of next generation.

I’ll pay the same as TD’s. Not a cent more!

Colm there is a cost associated with the free travel pass. Bus and rail companies re-coup the fare from the dept of social welfare. Dublin bus drivers don’t take account of the pass as it takes to long to enter the info into the ticketing machine. But the scheme in itself is unjustly biased towards those who live in urban areas and benefit most from it. Pensioners in rural Ireland get very little benefit from it as they don’t have the services in their area. Maybe those who live in urban areas should pay a small annual nominal fee but those in rural Ireland should be totally exempt

The survey omits another obvious choice — should pensioners have to buy a travel card for (say) €50 annually, that would allow them to travel free? That could be tweaked by charging more/less to certain categories, using a standardised means test )whenever that is introduced).

Yes they should.

I think local and long distance should be part of the survey. Personally I think local travel (within a range of 30 miles) should be free, and a small fee(1-2 euro) for long distance journeys.

Most people assume only the elderly have a free travel pass over 60% if not more that travel are trraveling free d ue to illness they get free travel , drug addiction is an ilness they travel free , and majority off people abuse it giving passes to family members or friends to use when there not , its about time a new system is put in to place

While we’re at it let’s cut benefits for unsecured bondholders.

I think local and long distance should be part of the survey. Personally I think local travel should be free (within a 30 mile range) and long distance journeys should have a small charge, say 1 – 2 euro.

Silly to have a “don’t know” option – if you don’t know don’t vote – it just ruins the results of the poll.

Is it not ageism to allow a certain age group free travel while others have to pay full fare………

Astonished at the reaction to this poll. Pensioners in most European countries pay a token amount for journeys of a certain length. Seems logical to me. In Belgium, it’s around €6.25. Hardly likely to break the bank.

But then again, I think the argument “they paid tax and built the country” is bollox. We are all paying tax, far more than most of us can afford because of their political decisions. Our current pensioners kept the maFFia in power for decades, turned a blind eye to corruption, endorsed the Catholic Church abuse by ignoring it or burying the evidence, supported garda brutality and did nothing. Our country is the way it is because of the decisions of pensioners and soon to be pensioners (most of the Dáil and Seanad, bank officials, regulators etc.) .

Our generation will have to answer for our moral cowardice too. Pensioners should not get a free pass merely because of their age.

They all voted for Fianna Fáil and the Blueshirts all their lies so I say charge them €100 a journey – Traitors the lot of them!

Usual Rubbish. Lets just make it earnings neutral. By that I mean €77 million divided by the number of journeys, = the amount payable. In other words, if there are 77 million journeys a year under the scheme, each journey should cost €1.00.

I agree with william grogan , why should they damn ,pensioners want everything. some might say hes bitter, petty or even just plain mean….i couldnt possibly comment

You can’t means test something that someone has paid into all there working life.
Local travel bus/rail should be free but anything outside that should be at a discount, when you see (which I have on a regular basis) a group of 10-15 elderly meeting in Busarras debating on where togo for a cup of tea, board a bus to Gorey then return an hour later, this is a total abuse of the system & starts to put the whole system under threat.
A free tap on tap off system like the leap card could be an option to control the charges bus companies submit.

money

Perhaps the emphasis should be on removing from the freeloading class the tax concessions and loopholes which enable its members to avoid making a contribution to the common good. Similarly multi-national companies that are on the same gravy train should be brought to book. The underlying purpose of this proposal is to build build a justification for attacking anyone and everyone who is not of the well-off segment of society. There is no shortage of money. There is one trillion euros of Irish domiciled cash around the stockmarket. Similarly there is at least three trillion euros of Irish money floating around the stock and bond markets of the world. That does not include that which is being gambled in hedge funds and other more esoteric instruments. It’s also not clear of any on this oiney has been taxed at source.

Some are on about “junkies” having free travel passes. How is that come about? I can’t find anything here
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/extra_social_welfare_benefits/free_travel.html
about being a junkie making anyone eligible????
Or do they mean “senior (geriatric) junkies?