Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The allowance is means tested. It applies to a number of schemes, including the old age contributory and non-contributory pensions, widows' pensions, lone parents' allowances, allowances for the blind and so on. It covers a range of schemes and as I noted, some 274,000 people are in receipt of it. It is means tested. I will establish the precise cut-off figure for the Deputy. However, as it is not a particularly significant payment, it is not particularly difficult to get.

As for the review, I will examine the issue in the context of the budget. I will take the statements made by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other organisations, as well as those made in the House, into consideration. Successive Ministers before me took the view that it was better to increase the main rate of social welfare benefit. Consequently, they decided it was better to direct available funds towards increasing the main rates, so that people had access to the money. This explains why there have been fairly major increases across the board in recent years, as far as the main benefits are concerned. However, this was carried out at the expense of a range of ancillary schemes, such as the fuel allowance. That is why the fuel allowance, the child dependant allowance and many other so-called non-main rate allowances were not increased over the years. I am considering whether this policy is still wise and I will conclude my thinking in this regard in advance of the budget.

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