asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he will take steps to extend the blind pensioners' and old age pensioners' fuel allowance outside urban areas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pensioners' Fuel Scheme.
45.
Extension of the fuel scheme on the lines suggested is not envisaged.
Can the Minister say why not?
This question has been asked a thousand times and I hate repeating it. The fuel scheme was a war time provision for a few provincial towns on the south and east coasts—it did not apply to the poor west at all—to enable people to obtain fuel who might not have been able to obtain it because of the shortage during the war. It was purely a war time measure but it has been retained ever since and is now looked on as a social service.
Why should the west not get it?
The fuel scheme was introduced in larger towns which might have found difficulty at the time in obtaining home produced fuel when we, thank God, were producing our own.
Why should this scheme not be extended to the west, particularly Donegal?
I much prefer to give these people other perks, such as free electricity and travel allowances.
These allowances apply in these towns as well. Why should the west not get this allowance?
They are not looking for it. They are getting better things.
Will Deputy FitzGerald allow questions to continue? Question No. 46.