Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 June 2026
527. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of employees who have availed of the cycle to work scheme, by county, in each of the years 2020 to 2025, inclusive; the estimated tax foregone to the Exchequer in respect of the scheme in each of those years; the breakdown between bicycles, pedelecs/e-bikes and cargo/e-cargo bikes, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41610/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, the Bike-to-Work scheme offers an exemption from Benefit-in-Kind where an employer purchases a bicycle and/or associated safety equipment for an employee (or a director) to use, in whole or in part, to travel to work. These individuals have to be on the payroll of a registered employer.
The scheme was introduced as an incentive to increase the number of people commuting to work by bicycle.
The scheme operates on a self-administration basis, and relief is automatically available provided the employer is satisfied that the requirements of the scheme are met such that they are in line with the underlying legislation. The scheme operates on this basis to reduce administrative burden for employers and employees.
As the scheme does not require any notification or application procedure, there are no data centrally available on the number of people availing of the scheme, the types of bicycles or equipment purchased, or a county-by-county breakdown of the recipients.
However, the Department of Finance produce estimates of the costs and number of recipients annually, as part of the annual Tax Expenditures in Ireland report, and the annual publication of the Tax Expenditure Passports. Both of these publications are available on my Department’s website, at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/collections/annual-tax-expenditure-reports-and-tax-expenditure-passports/
I anticipate that data for 2025 will be available shortly.
The latest published estimates of the cost and number of claims under the scheme are set out in tabular format below.
|
- |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
No. of claims |
22,000 |
25,000 |
25,000 |
25,400 |
25,400 |
|
Exchequer Cost (€M) |
4.5 |
5.5 |
5.5 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
