Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A lady came into my office yesterday to talk about the fuel allowance. She explained that she had received a letter stating she had been turned down because the means test means the most household income she can have is €338. She is on invalidity allowance and her daughter is on jobseeker's allowance and they were over the threshold by €25.

This woman needed that fuel allowance because she has Crohn's disease and recently had a transplant. She is in mortgage distress because she is the only one in the household now paying the mortgage. She was dependent on that fuel allowance to get access to the warmth and wellbeing scheme. Only one in five families get the fuel allowance. This is a reality for people who are in that situation and this Government did not fuel poverty check this carbon tax. I am opposed to it in general but particularly because that check has not been done.

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