Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
27. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Social Protection if an increase in income criteria for the fuel allowance can be considered given the rising costs of heating a home; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48622/21]
View answer56. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will assess the income eligibility criteria for fuel allowance to only apply to the applicant’s income as opposed to other adults' resident in the property whose income is not necessarily pooled with the applicant for the purpose of general expenditure and as such has no impact on their ability to meet heating costs. [47855/21]
View answer79. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will investigate the possibility of increasing the income limit for pensioners when considering the fuel allowance in the context of increasing energy costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48672/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 56 and 79 together.
The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to 370,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. All recipients of non-contributory payments are accepted as satisfying the means-test for fuel. People who are in receipt of a qualifying contributory payment must also satisfy a means test. A fuel applicant and members of his/her household may have a combined assessable income of up to €100.00 a week above the appropriate rate of State Pension Contributory and qualify for a payment. This ensures that the fuel allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.Any extension of the fuel allowance qualifying criteria, such as increasing the allowable means for fuel allowance purposes or only assessing the means of the fuel applicant, can only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances. Exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet from his / her own resources. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.
