Rebel riders: Cork linked to more than half of 857 confiscated free travel passes

Nearly 500 free travel passes were confiscated during an 18-month period after they were found being used by somebody other than the person named on the card.Department of Social Protection records show 857 passes were seized and returned to the department between January 2025 and June of this year.Of those, 474 were taken because the pass was being used by the wrong person, while 377 were recorded as “blocked”.Five more were confiscated because the holder was no longer entitled to free travel, while one was listed as damaged.READ MOREBus Éireann services accounted for three-quarters of the total, with 642 passes confiscated.A further 125 were sent back by Dublin Bus, along with 80 from Iarnród Éireann and 10 from the operators of the Luas tram network.More than half of the passes were linked to holders with addresses in Cork, accounting for 445 of the 857 total.Another 134 were registered to addresses in Dublin, while there were 56 from Waterford, 33 from Kerry, and 30 from Carlow.There was just a single confiscation from people with addresses in each of Monaghan, Roscommon, and Sligo.The Department of Social Protection said the State’s free travel scheme was available to all people aged over 66 and also to others below that age in receipt of certain qualifying social welfare payments.It is also available to people aged 17 to 66 who were medically certified as unfit to drive for at least one year.A spokesperson said cards could be blocked when reported as lost, stolen or damaged and where a new one has already been issued. They said cards could also be blocked where a person had lost their entitlement or had left the State.“Currently, over 1.18 million people qualify for free travel, with the total number of beneficiaries increasing to over 2.06 million when spouses and companions are included,” they said. “Accordingly, the number of free travel cards confiscated and returned to the department in this 18-month period represents 0.07 per cent of the total number of those entitled to free travel.”