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Social Welfare Eligibility

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 February 2022

Wednesday, 16 February 2022

Questions (156)

Paul Murphy

Question:

156. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department will consider implementing a policy that would see those on the disability allowance automatically entitled to the fuel allowance rather than basing the payment on a means test. [8581/22]

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Written answers

The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022.   It is estimated that up to 400,000 households will benefit from this payment in 2022.  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 the Department in as targeted a manner as possible. 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. The €120 a week means limit is significantly higher that the weekly fuel allowance rate of €33.00.

The Deputy should note that a person who is in receipt of a qualifying non-contributory means tested payment such as Disability Allowance is accepted as satisfying the means-test.  Fuel Allowance could only be refused on means grounds because of the means of another member of the household.

Any decision to extend the fuel allowance scheme, to allow people on Disability Allowance to automatically receive the payment, would significantly change the nature of the scheme and almost certainly lead to calls for other qualifying payments to be treated in the same manner.  Significant extra funding would also be required and accordingly, it could only be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department may provide Exceptional Needs Payments, which may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs.  Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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