Brian O'Shea
Ceist:36 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the proposals, if any, he has to substantially increase the free fuel allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14279/98]
Other Questions. - Free Fuel Scheme.
Ivan Yates
Ceist:115 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the proposals, if any, he has to extend the free fuel scheme to the month of April in view of the fact that heating costs for many eligible people can be as high in that month as in other winter months; the proposals, if any, he has to increase the rate of payment for the 1999 scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14647/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 115 together.
The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders who are on long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. A payment of £5 per week is paid to eligible households for 26 weeks from mid-October to mid-April. An additional 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 is a repetition of the reply to an earlier question.
Is it the same as the earlier reply?
Not necessarily.
Then I would like to hear it.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): The Minister is increasing the payment in this reply.
The smokeless fuel allowance was later extended to Cork city and adjacent areas to coincide with the ban on the sale of bituminous coal which came into effect there on 13 February 1995 and will be further extended to Limerick City, Wexford town, Arklow, Drogheda and Dundalk and to their contiguous built-up areas from the start of the next fuel season in October 1998, to coincide with the introduction of a ban on the sale of bituminous coal in these areas. The fuel allowance payment rate cannot be viewed in isolation from the rate of weekly pensions, benefits and assistance payments, which have increased.
The Minister already said that.
The free fuel scheme is not temperature related and there may be occasions when the allowance is not paid, even though temperatures are unseasonably cold. However, as the scheme extends over six months of the year, from mid October to mid April, this is likely to an exception rather than the rule. Any extension of the duration of the scheme would have significant cost implications. For example, to extend the scheme by a further two weeks to the end of April would cost £4 million.
That is not the full reply, but the rest is the same as a reply I gave earlier.
The Minister said there was a huge saving of about £70 million this year on unemployment assistance. It would not cost too much to give £4 million of that to the elderly. Will he give a commitment to spend some of that £70 million on the elderly in the next budget?
As I said in my last reply, I will look at this issue in the forthcoming budget, as I did in the last budget. However, that will be done in the context of all the other issues raised with me.
Does the Minister intend to distribute that saving to social welfare payments in the next budget?
All savings, if there are any, are included in the overall context of the budget, not only in my Department but across the entire Exchequer. I will be fighting for as good package as the one I received this year, if not better.
Will the Minister confirm it would cost an additional £18 million to increase the allowance to £10 per week for those who qualify? Given the huge savings to which Deputy Moynihan-Cronin referred, does he agree it would be reasonable to increase that allowance to £10 per week?
As I said before, I looked at this whole issue in the context of last year's budget. I decided it would be better to give people, particularly old age pensioners, £5 per week for 52 weeks of the year rather than a modest increase in the fuel allowance for a 26 week period. I accept it does not apply totally to the same recipients, but the option which I took was much more costly in a budgetary context. I do not have the figure for how much an increase to £10 would cost. I think the overall cost of the free fuel scheme is in the region of £42 million.
It is £43 million.
I am not sure if the increase from £5 to £10 would equate to £18 million.
That is what the Goodbody report, which the Minister has not seen, said.