Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a note on the winter fuel payment from the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. It is a tax-free lump sum payment to eligible people to help towards their winter heating costs. It is a lump sum payment between £100 and £300. In most cases, it is paid automatically between November and December. As of winter 2012-13, people who live in the EEA or Switzerland who have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK are potentially eligible to receive the winter fuel payment regardless of whether they previously had entitlement to it while living in the UK. This change occurred following a 2011 European Court of Justice ruling. Before 2012-13 only people who had entitlement to the winter fuel payment prior to moving overseas were eligible. The Department in the UK published statistics to show that in winter 2017-18 a total of 78% of the winter fuel payments made to EEA countries and Switzerland were made to people living in the Republic of Ireland. This amounted to approximately 31,200 payments. As I understand it, that payment will continue.