Mr. Jim Copeland:

We do not know because the winter fuel allowance is paid by means of a cash top-up. It is €20 per week for less than 26 weeks. We are not against it being paid because people are suffering fuel poverty and they need the benefit. We do not have oversight of where that €20 goes. Is it spent on fuel that is not compliant or is it paid to people selling fuel who are not compliant retailers, or is it spent on other product? We have absolutely no idea. There is no traceability for over €200 million going out of the Government coffers whereas if it was spent through legitimate trade, not necessarily ours, although we would like it to go through the hardware merchant, the Government will get a portion of it back through employment taxes, VAT and carbon tax. That is a much better way to do it. With modern technology there must be a way of giving this benefit to people in a form other than cash. The Government has a programme to move us away from cash so why does it persist in giving people €20 a week to spend, without knowing where, or to whom, it is going?