Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests today. I have a number of questions and I will start with the fuel allowance. In the past week I have come across the case of a means-tested fuel allowance for those over the age of 70. The problem is that the person is assessed on gross income. I am told this is correct and is in Article 8 of Part 1 of SI 142 of 2007, which I received from some very helpful people in the widows' pension section. Unfortunately, that person is paying tax on the bit of a private pension they have. If the net income was taken into account then the person would be under the fuel allowance rates. The problem is that this person is living in a very old house and does not qualify for the warmer homes scheme. Will Mr. Hession clarify if that situation of gross versus net income can be looked at again? That person does not qualify because of being just over the limit, which in this case is actually just €20 over the limit but the person would be under the limit if the assessment was on net income rather than a gross assessment.

My other question on the fuel allowance was mentioned earlier in the context of the household composition rule. I have raised this before. I have come across a number of cases, and I am sure the Chair has too, where there is another person on a social welfare payment in the house which disqualifies the person applying from getting a fuel allowance. There are a number of issues relating to this. First, the person is providing a roof over the other person's head and normally this is a son or daughter. If this person was not living in the house then it would be up to the local authority to try to house that person. I believe it is wrong to use the household composition rule to disqualify that person from a fuel allowance. I would love our guests today to comment on that and the reasons for it. As I have said continuously, that person has to be housed and the first person is providing a roof over their son's or daughter's head. I have raised this point at every meeting we have had and the Chair has heard me. I want to get a comment from the Department's housing section as to where we are with the review of the housing aid grant and the action plan. I am told it is with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I am told that the report has been prepared for at least one year now. I raised this in previous conversations about bridging finance. I have come across three cases this week. In one case a lady has been in hospital for at least five months and she has come home. Thankfully she got the go-ahead for a grant from Kildare County Council but they have offered her an amount which is just short of €30,000, as that is what she qualifies for. The cheapest quote she can get to do the work is for €60,000. This lady needs that work to adapt her house to allow her to continue to live in her house. If she does not get this she is going back to hospital again, and obviously at a much more considerable cost to the State and to her family who want her to live at home. Where is the report and are we going to see changes in the housing adaption grant, the housing aid grant, and the €30,000 rule, which are simply not working given the severe increases in building costs and so on? With the whole area of bridging finance is there somewhere in the Department of Social Protection or the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that could look at bridging finance?

One of the areas I also wish to raise again is the whole community welfare officer service. I will put on record again the great help we all get from our community welfare officers. It is, however, challenging at times to actually look for that bridging finance from the community welfare officers because sometimes what is needed can be up to €30,000. Are there rules within that particular supplementary welfare service that allow for this bridging finance to be provided by community welfare officers? Is there a limit to the amount that can be provided? I would love to get an answer on that.

With regard to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I have come across a lot of cases in my county - and indeed other countries since other councillors have been on to me as well - where air-to-water systems have been put into a house where there has been no upgrade of insulation, windows or doors. That is simply not working. Is there a policy within the Department of housing that there should be an overall package or are we going to continue to allow local authorities to put in 30% or 40% of the overall need of the house? We should ensure the house is wrapped and done properly in the first place. I would much appreciate answers to those questions.