Chris Flood
Ceist:162 Mr. Flood asked the Minister for Social Welfare when the 1995 fuel allowance scheme will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10557/95]
Written Answers. - National Fuel Scheme.
The national fuel scheme assists householders who are in receipt of social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. An applicant for a fuel allowance must live alone or only with qualified dependants or another eligible claimant and must satisfy a means test.
The scheme was reduced from a period of 30 weeks to 26 weeks in October 1988 by the Fianna Fáil administration. The scheme now runs for a 26 week period from mid-October to mid-April each year. The 1995-96 national fuel scheme will start on week commencing Monday, 16 October 1995 and finish in week ending Friday, 12 April 1996. A payment of £5 per week will be paid to eligible households during this period. Only one fuel allowance is payable per household.
An applicant and his or her household who have a combined income from any source of more than £5 per week above the relevant contributory social welfare income will not qualify for the allowance. I have increased this £5 means limit to £10 with effect from the start of the 1995-96 fuel scheme.
In addition to the national fuel allowance, a smokeless fuel allowance of £3 per week was introduced in October 1990 to assist people living in the built-up areas of Dublin to meet the additional costs arising from the ban on the sale of bituminous coal in these areas. This allowance has been extended to cover Cork to coincide with the ban on the sale of bituminous coal in the city and adjacent areas which came into effect on 13 February 1995.
In 1993 expenditure on the fuel scheme, on a calendar year basis, was £37.55 million. Final figures are not yet available for 1994, but provisional returns indicate that expenditure for the calendar year will be in the region of £39.9 million. A sum of £44.5 million has been provided for the fuel scheme in the 1995 Estimates. To extend the scheme by one month would cost £7 million.