Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the exceptional needs payment, I note from the Estimates that the payment was reduced in 2020 as compared with 2019. That is quite unusual, given the circumstances we are in with Covid. The payment very much varies depending on the community welfare officer. There is a job of work to be done in terms of how the payment works. Some officers will give it but some will not, so we could consider providing them with better guidelines.

In the Estimates there is a reference to control measures where 80% of people in receipt of a weekly social welfare payment make debt repayments. Can we have a breakdown of the people and payments concerned?

Social welfare appeals is a consistent issue and there has been a very high number of appeals at the end of this year. Has the Minister considered deploying additional staff or taking additional measures to tackle the issue?

I appreciate that the 15-month qualifying period was lapsed for jobseekers in order that they could get the Christmas bonus, so I will talk about the fuel allowance. I have heard from someone who lost their job in October 2019 but could not get the fuel allowance then, cannot get it now and can only get it in January of next year. With the 15-month qualifying period for someone who has lost his or her job, particularly now with Covid, it means he or she will have to wait 15 months to qualify for assistance with fuel and at a time when the price of fuel is increasing all of the time. I ask the Minister to look at fuel allowance.