I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 22 and 42 together.
The national fuel scheme assists certain householders who are in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. A weekly payment of £5 is made to eligible households for 26 weeks of each year. An additional smokeless fuel allowance of £3 is paid to qualified householders in Dublin and Cork cities and adjacent areas where a ban on the sale of bituminous coal applies.
The Department of the Environment has responsibility for air quality and deciding where a ban on bituminous coal should apply. Neither a review of the urban air quality by that Department or the Environmental Protection Agency's review of national air quality generally, have revealed recent excesses of statutory air quality standards. The Department of the Environment has no immediate plans to extend the ban on bituminous coal and consequently I have no plans to extend the smokeless fuel allowance to areas where the ban does not presently apply.