Vol. 429 No. 8
42 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will introduce a scheme to allow pensioners who previously worked in the civil service or semi-State bodies and who paid PRSI at a reduced rate, to avail of living alone allowance and the various free schemes, as the position of these pensioners vis-à-vis those on full social welfare payment has declined over recent years.
The living alone allowance and the free schemes (such as free electricity allowance, free telephone rental allowance and free television licence) are available only to recipients of social welfare type pensions who are living alone or only with certain exempted persons. The cost of those schemes is currently of the order of £50 million a year. The question of extending them to additional groups not covered at present, such as retired public service workers, would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
I might mention that persons in receipt of low rate occupational pensions and with no other income may be entitled to receive an old age (non-contributory) pension even at a reduced rate, subject to satisfying the relevant means test which would bring them within the categories covered by the schemes referred to. In addition, all persons over 66 years of age and resident in the State are entitled to free travel.
