Vol. 458 No. 2
23 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will increase the £10 private income limit threshold for payment of fuel allowance; and the cost to the Exchequer if the limit were increased to £15 per week and £20 per week. [16267/95]
The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist qualified householders unable to provide for their own heating needs. To qualify for the allowance the applicant must be in receipt of a long-term social welfare or health board payment. In addition, they must live alone, or only with qualified dependants, a carer, a person in receipt of a short-term unemployment assistance payment or a person who qualifies for a fuel allowance in their own right, and they must satisfy a means test.
Applicants in receipt of means tested benefits are considered to have satisfied the means test. Those in receipt of contributory benefits, including certain EU pensions, benefits or equivalent payments, may have a combined household income of up to £10 per week, or savings of £5,400, above the appropriate maximum Irish contributory pension rate.
It is difficult to estimate precisely the costs of increasing the income limit for receipts of fuel allowance as requested by the Deputy, because of a lack of detailed information on the levels of income of those rejected on the basis of the current means test. Based on information on the number of applicants whose claims had been unsuccessful because they exceeded the current limits, it is estimated that the cost of increasing the limit by the amounts mentioned by the Deputy would be some £150,000. In addition raising the limit could also attract additional claims from people who had not applied before and it is not possible to quantify this factor.
Is the Minister aware that the fuel allowance has decreased each year for the past number of years? That is a very serious matter. Is the Minister satisfied with that situation?
The cash payment for fuel allowance is normally £5 per week and payable to recipients of long-term social welfare, health board or EU payments.
I am aware of those figures. Is the Minister satisfied that the people in receipt of free fuel allowance have been getting less each year for the last number of years? I am not asking for figures.
In addition to the £5 standard fuel allowance, an additional £3 premium is payable in smokeless areas, bringing the total fuel allowance in those areas to £8 per week. There has been no reduction in the fuel allowance as implied by the Deputy. The last reduction in the fuel allowance was in the number of weeks it was payable, when it was reduced from 30 weeks to 26 weeks per year. That, cut was introduced by the Fianna Fáil Government of the day.
The Minister is refusing to answer the question I asked. Is he satisfied that people in receipt of fuel allowance at the moment have been getting decreases in value for the last number of years? Will be increase the fuel allowance?
That is a separate question.
Is the Minister satisfied with the reduction?
There has been no reduction in the fuel allowance since Fianna Fáil reduced the number of weeks for which it was payable. The question of whether the fuel allowance will be increased will depend on the resources available to me at any given time.
The Minister did not say that in Opposition.
That concludes questions for today.
