CC requests that children who live in the Peninsula and have parents in the Canary Islands be able to travel with a discount

The deputy of Coalición Canaria Nereida Calero raised this Wednesday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands a petition for "the 50% discount on plane and boat tickets for residents in the Canary Islands to be extended to minors residing in the Peninsula, but who have a resident parent on the Islands".

According to the party in a statement, the deputy "obtained the commitment of the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ornella Chacón, to defend this initiative within the framework of the negotiations that she must soon hold with the Ministry of Development on the financing of Transport".

For her part, the regional deputy, who spoke at the Committee on Public Works and Transport, explained that "the demand has been transferred to the deputies of Majorera by residents of the island. This is the situation of families who, for various reasons, whether due to separation of the couple or for work issues, among others, have a parent residing in the Canary Islands, and their minor children residing in the Peninsula". Precisely, on this point she detailed that there are "multiple visitation regimes or cases of shared custody, dictated by the judicial authorities or agreed upon by the parents themselves, which establish the right of the minor to remain, during certain dates or seasons of the year, with one of the parents or guardians".

In this way, she affirms that "we find families with scarce economic resources who struggle to bring their children residing in the Peninsula, to spend a few weeks at Christmas, summer or the period that corresponds to them, with their parents, grandparents or uncles". And it is that currently, "these children are considered, for all purposes, residents in the Peninsula, and therefore, are not entitled to the 50% discount on airfare, or even boat between islands"

Calero expressed her confidence in this petition explaining that "with a little dialogue with the Ministry of Development this situation should be easily remedied, because family and social sensitivity must be well above laws, decrees and ministerial orders". She acknowledged, however, that "now Fomento warns us with a new cut in the discount for residents, to be applied from January 1, setting limitations on discounts for groups of travelers, and we know that joint actions are being considered with the Government of the Balearic Islands to stop this measure and even to demand the extension of the resident discount to 75% of the cost of the ticket". Despite this, she continued to express her confidence that, even within this context, "this demand can be framed before the Ministry of Development".

In short, she warned that, in whatever way, the change must be made "because we are talking about family relationships between parents and children, grandparents, uncles, among others, that are lost due to the lack of sensitivity of a criterion imposed in an Order that makes them stay away most of the year or all year, if they cannot afford the expensive trip economically". "I understand that the decision, if Fomento finally agrees, would only imply a computer adaptation to the ticket management process, or some social report from the municipality of residence of the parent. In short, the technicians are the ones who must look for the formulas, but the important thing is that they do it once and for all", she concluded.