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

I thank Deputies Stanton and Ring. We are doing a full review of the means test at the minute. We will also look at the capital disregard, which has not been reviewed. I increased the means threshold for the fuel allowance only recently, that is, the amount of money someone can have in an account before it impacted on qualifying for that payment. We need to do a full review of it, as I said earlier.

On joint accounts, the issue that has been raised with me by Deputies is the qualified adult, where there is a husband and wife and the wife is a qualified adult. If she has money in a joint account with her partner, it is assessed and that is it. She cannot have any means to qualify for that payment. It is a bit harsh. The matter has been brought up with me. We are going to look at these issues right across the board. I am happy to hear any suggestions that anybody has in terms of how we can make it better and fairer.

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