Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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84. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she plans to change the thresholds or to alter the qualifying criteria for the fuel allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34961/22]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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My question centres on the fuel allowance thresholds and the qualifying criteria. This will be a very important issue in the coming months. I want the Minister's opinion on the thresholds by which people will qualify.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The fuel allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. It is a targeted payment to people dependent on specified long-term social welfare payments. The purpose of this payment is to assist those households most in need with their energy costs.

The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the fuel allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including a means test and the household composition criteria. This ensures that the fuel allowance payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.

As part of budget 2022, an increase in the weekly fuel payment of €5 and a number of expansions to the eligibility criteria for the fuel allowance payment were announced, including expanding the means threshold for the fuel allowance by €20 to €120 above the appropriate rate of State pension contributory, which enables more people to qualify for this support.

With effect from September 2022, the qualifying period for jobseeker's and supplementary welfare allowance recipients to be in a position to access the fuel allowance payment will be reduced from 15 to 12 months. The Government has, therefore, implemented significant expansions in relation to the fuel allowance through budget 2022.

We are acutely aware of recent price increases and their impact on households that are dependent on social welfare. All options will be kept under review, together with trends in prices, to inform preparations for the budget later this year. We must, however, take account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.

The Department of Social Protection provides additional needs payments as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our community welfare offices.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Minister of State. We can all agree that the fuel allowance at the moment is targeted in a certain way to a certain number of social welfare recipients. I believe this needs to broaden out to much more than the cohort of people who currently receive it. If a person is on illness benefit he or she does not get it. A person on disability benefit does not get the fuel allowance. There is a whole cohort of people who do not qualify. For example, a person may be on a small private pension along with a State pension. If this person is over the threshold by just €5 then he or she does not get the fuel allowance whatsoever. When one takes into account the spiralling cost of fuel the €33 fuel allowance is welcome but it must relate to the income a person has and the payment itself. A whole cohort who could benefit by a targeted measure are not benefitting. Perhaps the Minister of State will address this.

I also wish to allude to another important point after the response.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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In response to those questions about the people who are outside thresholds by a small amount, or in payments that do not qualify, the mantra we will keep putting out, which we cannot do too often because people are not aware of it, is about the additional needs payment and the community welfare officers.

All those people the Deputy mentioned can go to a community welfare officer and explain their current situation. There are an increasing number of people in this situation. The Minister outlined how the applications for additional needs payments have increased compared with the five-month period last year. That is the short-term answer. For the longer-term and for the budget, we will have to take all the cases into account, and all the options will be assessed for the fuel allowance in budget 2023. For those in need now and who are outside eligibility, the immediate answer is the community welfare officer and the additional needs payment.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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This winter we will see the apex of the cost-of-living crisis, particularly in energy prices. There have been 35 price hikes by energy companies in the past 12 months. The cumulative effect has been a 60% to 70% increase in electricity and gas prices. That is a fact. Another fact which the Minister will have to address is that since February this year, 20,000 people were refused fuel allowance. That is an enormous number. There is a lot of confusion in social welfare offices regarding those who are long-term unemployed for more than 12 months, for instance. They have changed the criteria, which is welcome, but there is a lot of confusion. That has to be addressed. It is only the tip of the iceberg. There are those who could benefit but who are not because of the confusion relating to the criteria.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Taoiseach and all senior Ministers have given a strong signal that the budget will be a cost-of-living budget. The Department of Social Protection is part of that, as are other Departments. The national retrofitting plan and one-stop shops are also up and running. We have put €2.4 billion of measures in place and those are worth reiterating. They include the €200 energy credit and an extra €125 for fuel allowance recipients. There is a further €100 special payment for fuel allowance recipients, cuts to VAT on gas and electricity between May and October, a 20% cut on public transport fares from the end of April, reduced caps for multiple children on the school transport fees and the more recent announcement on free school transport in the year ahead. Another good anti-poverty measure relates to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and school meals. The Deputy made an interesting point about the refusals for fuel allowance. We would be wise to look at the reasons for refusal to see if they can be part of the considerations for budget 2023.