Free travel for nearly 1m people cost €77m in 2017

The number of people availing of free travel has dramatically risen along with the ageing population over the past decade.

More than 900,000 Irish people, mainly pensioners, availed of free travel last year which is an increase of 42% since 2007 when 637,312 people had a free travel pass.

Ireland’s population has been getting steadily older since the 1980s, with over-65s seeing the largest increase in population in the last census, so the number eligible for free travel is expected to continue to rise.