Age Action has warmly welcomed the Government’s commitment to protect the Travel Pass scheme for older people, and the inclusion of this commitment in its statement of priorities for the remaining three years of the current administration.
Age Action launched a campaign last month to highlight the importance of the travel pass scheme and to rally political support for its protection, in the light of the terms of reference of a major review which is underway into the scheme.
“We are happy to wind down the campaign following the Government’s commitment to the ‘full retention’ of the scheme, contained in the statement of its priorities for 2014-16,” Age Action spokesperson Eamon Timmins said.
“We are grateful to all politicians who helped secure this commitment, both those who publicly backed the campaign as well as those who worked behind the scenes,” he said. The older people’s charity is also deeply grateful to groups from a broad spectrum of society who supported the campaign, as well as to older people and their families who contacted their local politicians to demand their support.
“We are delighted that this combined effort has ensured that this valuable scheme, which supports older people to live with independence and dignity, is safe,” Mr Timmins said.
To read the full text of the Statement of Government Priorities 2014-2016, which was published on Friday evening, see http://www.merrionstreet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Statement-of-Government-Priorities-Final-110714.pdf The commitment to protecting the Travel Pass scheme is at the top of page five (third bullet point).
