Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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4. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the fuel allowance eligibility criteria will be reviewed to allow those in receipt of benefit payments such as jobseeker’s, illness benefit, carers benefit and so on to qualify; and if she will review the requirement of 15 months or more on jobseeker’s allowance in order to qualify for the fuel allowance, which is discouraging persons from taking up seasonal work as they would then lose the fuel allowance in the winter (details supplied). [48966/21]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I ask the Minister to review the eligibility criteria for the fuel allowance and to allow those in receipt of benefit payments including jobseeker's payments, illness benefit and carer's benefit to qualify. I also ask her to review the requirement for applicants to have been on jobseeker's allowance for 15 months or longer in order to qualify for the fuel allowance. This discourages people from taking up seasonal work, as they would then lose their fuel allowance in the winter.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The fuel allowance is a payment of €28 per week for 28 weeks, from October to April, representing a total payment of €784 each year. It is paid to 370,000 low-income households at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household and is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.

Qualifying payments for fuel allowance are those payments that are considered long-term payments and an applicant must also satisfy a means test. People on long-term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. It is for this reason that the Department allocates additional payments, supports and resources to help this cohort of claimants.

Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for fuel allowance to include people in receipt of short-term benefit schemes or people in receipt of short-term jobseeker’s allowance would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations. This year, funds raised through the carbon tax will again support targeted social welfare and other initiatives to alleviate fuel poverty and ensure a just transition. In this regard, in the forthcoming budget, the Government will consider how it can support people on low incomes and those on social welfare payments. The outcome of these considerations will be announced on budget day.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential once-off cost that customers are unable to meet out of their own resources. This may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I hear what the Minister is saying but I am not satisfied because I believe people on benefit payments are being treated unfairly. A person in receipt of illness benefit does not qualify, irrespective of how long he or she has been claiming it for. It can be two years or sometimes more. People do not qualify for fuel allowance if they are getting one of the following contributory payments, namely, jobseeker's benefit, illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit, occupational injuries benefit, maternity benefit or disablement benefit. It is important to note that a person who shares a home with, or lives with, a person claiming illness benefit does not qualify for fuel benefit either, no matter how low his or her own income is. People do not qualify for fuel allowance if they live with someone who is getting one of the payments that qualify for fuel allowance. For example, a pensioner living with a cancer patient who is on illness benefit does not qualify for fuel allowance even though the State pension and illness benefit combined are considerably lower than the threshold of the fuel allowance means test.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is important to say that we are already doing a lot to help people with their fuel costs. The fuel allowance payment is €28 per week and this will cost €300 million in 2021. Some 370,000 low-income households were able to benefit from that. The household benefits package, which consists of a set of allowances to help with the costs of running a household, includes allowances towards covering the costs of electricity or gas. Approximately 470,000 recipients are paid €35 per month at a total cost of €195 million in 2021. The living alone allowance, which is targeted at recipients of certain social welfare payments who live alone and often have significantly higher costs, is paid at a rate of €19 per week. This is paid in addition to primary social welfare payments such as the State pension. More than 221,000 recipients will benefit from this allowance in 2021, at a cost of more than €219 million.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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What the Minister has just said does not address the issue I have raised with regard to people on benefit payments. One example I did not get to is that of a person who has been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for less than 15 months. Such a person will not qualify. That stops such people taking up part-time jobs in the summer. That is very unfair. I cannot understand how the Government can stand over all of these people on benefits being disqualified from the fuel allowance. Something I did not put into the question, but should have, is that these people on benefits do not qualify for the bonus week at Christmas. This is totally and absolutely wrong. As the Government negotiates the upcoming budget, I beg it to address the discriminatory rules that bar people on benefit payments from getting the fuel allowance.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The principle behind this is that people on long-term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. That is why we target people on longer-term payments. The payments the Deputy has mentioned are short-term payments. We take the view that we should help those who are more vulnerable to poverty. The best approach in the long term is to make sure homes are warmer and to invest in energy efficiency. The Government is committed to supporting households with their energy costs through energy efficiency measures with a total budget for retrofitting in excess of €280 million. Programmes like the warmer homes scheme are important to help those on low incomes improve their energy efficiency. The updated national development plan provides for an expanded investment in retrofitting well in excess of €1 billion between now and 2025.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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They are waiting nearly two years for that.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am moving on to the final Priority Question.