Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Mar 1992

Vol. 416 No. 7

Written Answers. - Allowances Settlement.

Michael Finucane

Question:

115 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the annual financial implications of providing a free telephone rental allowance and a free electricity allowance to widows/widowers under 66 years of age who are living alone and whose spouse prior to bereavement was eligible for these allowances, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Mr. McCreevy)

There are certain differences in the conditions for entitlement to a free telephone rental allowance and a free electricity allowance. In order to qualify for a free electricity allowance, a person must be living alone, or living only with a dependent spouse, an invalid, or a full-time carer. To qualify for free telephone rental allowance, a person must be living alone, or living only with children under 15 years of age, or living with people who are so permanently incapacitated that they could not get help in an emergency.

In practice, therefore, a married couple is not entitled to a free telephone rental allowance unless one of them is so permanently incapacitated as to be unable to summon help in an emergency. In the event of the death of the claimant, the surviving spouse will normally qualify for either allowance in his or her own right provided they themselves are over 66 years of age.

It is not possible to give a precise cost of extending the present arrangements to surviving spouses under 66 years of age but a rough estimate would be of the order of £4 million.