Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2014
135. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the reason allowances for water cannot be made as a credit payment to the State pension in the same manner that the property tax has been taken as a deduction. [35756/14]
View answerAs part of the household benefits package, a new water support payment of €25 every three months, will be introduced in January 2015. The water support will benefit some 411,000 customers, including older people, people with a disability and carers, at an annual cost of approximately €42 million.
Development work for this new payment is underway within the Department. Existing customers in receipt of household benefits, including pensioners, will not have to make any additional application to receive the new payment. The payment will be made in the same way as existing payments, i.e. direct into their bank accounts or through Post Offices.
The Department will be writing to a small group of customers who have household benefits but for whom we have no payment details as these customers are not currently in receipt of a weekly social protection payment.
