{"id":491101,"date":"2026-06-09T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491101\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:46:14","slug":"free-travel-should-be-easier-for-over-65s-says-ireland-south-mep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491101\/","title":{"rendered":"Free travel should be easier for over 65s says Ireland South MEP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"696\" height=\"698\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Domestic-violence-Cynthia-Ni-Mhurchu_11-Edit-1-e1716471322276-696x698.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"Domestic violence - Cynthia Ni Mhurchu_11-Edit (1)\"\/>Fianna F\u00e1il MEP for Ireland South Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa.<\/p>\n<p>IRELAND should reform its \u201ctop heavy\u201d free travel scheme to provide automatic public transport access to people from the age of 65.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to Ireland South MP Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa, a member of the European Parliament\u2019s Transport and Tourism Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Ms N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa said the current system is \u201cway too heavy on administration\u201d, and called for automatic access for over 65s who simply show their identification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimplifying access would reduce digital exclusion and administrative barriers, while boosting tourism and local economic activity, particularly in retail, hospitality, and cultural sectors,\u201d she said, noting that concerns about cost and capacity can be addressed through better planning and increased public transport services.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<a onclick=\"\" class=\"gofollow\" data-track=\"MTQ2LDIsMSw2MA==\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rainoutdoors.ie\/search?sort_by=price-descending&amp;q=Merrell&amp;options%5Bprefix%5D=last\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"384\" onload=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MPU-merrell.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    Signup for the Limerick Post newsletter&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n            &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n                                                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Fianna F\u00e1il MEP for Ireland South Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa. IRELAND should reform its \u201ctop&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[55666,11450,210972,61,60,43,16456],"class_list":["post-491101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cynthia-ni-mhurchu","tag-european-parliament","tag-free-travel-scheme","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-public-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}