Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 March 2015
239. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will reinstate the telephone allowance for pensioners in receipt of the household benefits package; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12001/15]
View answerThe monthly allowances under the household benefits package are a contribution towards the cost of services; they are not intended to meet those costs in full. The telephone allowance was introduced at a time when telephones were expensive and uncommon and a landline service was the only option available to the client. The market has changed considerably since the introduction of the allowance, with several companies providing a range of services and rates with bundled services including television, telephone, broadband and pay-as-you-go mobiles. In addition, the cost of the telephone allowance scheme has risen each year with the number of eligible clients also increasing significantly. In 2007 there were some 316,000 people receiving the telephone allowance compared with almost 396,000 at the end of September 2013, an increase of 25%. Each year almost 10,000 extra clients became eligible for the allowance because of the increased number of pension recipients.
The overall concern of the Government in recent budgets has been to protect the primary weekly social welfare rates. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other core payments is key in protecting people from poverty. To allow us to preserve these core payments, we have had to look very carefully at other additional payments. Accordingly, the telephone allowance was discontinued from 1 January 2014. This decision provided annual savings of €48 million and meant that the Department was able to retain the other elements of the household benefits package such as the electricity and gas allowance and the television licence. The fuel allowance scheme and the free travel pass were also protected for older people and people with disabilities. These are valuable supports for recipients.
I am keenly aware of the impact on the Department's clients and particularly those who are living alone. As the Deputy is aware, in Budget 2015, we partially restored the Christmas Bonus and increased the living alone allowance to €9.00 per week. In these circumstances, I have no plans to restore the telephone allowance. Any decision to increase the household benefits package would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of budget negotiations.
