Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. She said that the fuel allowance is paid to many pensioners. I know from my clinics - as I am sure does the Minister and every other Deputy present - that there are many pensioners to whom it is not paid because they are €1 or €2 above the eligibility criteria. That is unfair. In one case, a lady in west Cork who has cancer and is in receipt of illness benefit cannot afford to heat her home. It is hard to believe that in this day and age a woman who is on illness benefit because of her illness cannot heat her home. As I said, many of the pensioners who have visited me at my clinic are slightly above the threshold. Surely, there must be some latitude for those who as we speak are sitting in cold homes. Most of these people are elderly and some of them are very ill. Many of them are paying mortgages, rent and loans. Nothing is taken into account other than income. In many cases, their outgoings far exceed their income. I would appreciate it if there could be some understanding of that.

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