Irish Rail to crack down on free travel pass abuse

Irish Rail has said it is developing ways to clamp down on abuse of the free travel pass system.

It follows reports in today's Irish Daily Mail that 20 passes a day are confiscated from people who are not entitled to one.

There are also claims that abuse of the system is costing the taxpayer €61m a year.

Irish Rail spokesperson Barry Kenny queries the Daily Mail's figures but admits abuse of the travel pass system is a problem.

"There's a small number of cases where people are doing it on an on-going basis," he said, saying there were more than 100 cases last year where Irish Rail recovered more than €80,000.