Free travel could not be offered just to Irish people returning from Britain, but would have to be given on a Europe-wide basis, the Taoiseach told the Dáil.
Defending the State's funding of Irish emigrant services in Britain, Mr Ahern said the Government had considered free travel a few years ago.
"This cannot be given in isolation just to Irish people abroad. It must be extended on a Europe-wide basis. We examined this in some detail regarding people in Britain and Northern Ireland but it was impossible," he said.
But the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said "the notion of EU citizens over 65 with senior citizen status, coming here for free travel, is simply not realistic."
"This is a modest demand from the people concerned that there is no impediment in the way of the pre-1953 pensioners receiving it." Mr Rabbitte had raised the funding of services for Irish residents in Britain, following another RTÉ PrimeTime report on the issue. He referred to the estimated 700,000 people "we shipped out of this country in the 1950s and 1960s".
