Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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5. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to confirm that consideration will be given to an automatic entitlement to the fuel allowance where a member of the household is over 70 years of age; the cost of implementing this proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31303/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. There have been significant improvements in recent years to the fuel allowance scheme, which has resulted in more than 100,000 additional households qualifying for the payment. The budget for the fuel allowance scheme has increased significantly, to €557.4 million in 2026. That compares with €290.45 million in 2020. In January 2023, enhanced fuel allowance measures for people aged 70 or over were introduced. These have since been extended to those aged 66 or older. This included a new weekly means threshold, which now stands at €534 for a single person or €1,068 for a couple. In addition, the amount of capital that is disregarded in the means test was increased from €20,000 to €50,000. The weekly means threshold for those aged under 66 was also increased by €80, to €200, above the appropriate rate of the contributory State pension.

In response to the rise in fuel prices, the Government has approved the extension of the 2025 to 2026 fuel season by four weeks, until the end of this week. This provides an additional €152 to some 470,000 households at an estimated cost of €71.4 million. A number of other important improvements to the scheme have been introduced. In budget 2025, we allowed the carer's allowance to be considered as a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance for the first time. The fuel allowance was extended in budget 2026 to recipients of the working family payment from January 2026. In budget 2026, we allowed those who leave their disability payment to take up employment to continue to receive the fuel allowance for five years after exiting the payment.

We do not hold data on household composition to be able to identify where a member of the household is over 70 years of age, and therefore, cannot provide a costing for the measure that is proposed by the Deputy. However, the criteria for the fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources that are available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. Extending the eligibility to include automatic entitlement to the fuel allowance for those over 70 years of age could change the targeted nature of the fuel allowance payment. It would require additional funding and would need to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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Where I am coming from is the context of people who are living on their own. One of the big problems that we have where a person is living on their own is that there are additional costs. The cost of heating a house and normal maintenance is the same as it would be if there were two or three people living in the house. If we look at the allowance that the Department is paying out and the cost to the State where a person ends up in a nursing home, the average cost in a nursing home as a minimum now is €1,250 per week. Therefore, if we look at the overall cost in real terms, there are challenges for people, particularly in rural areas, who are living on their own trying to make ends meet. The cost of heating, especially in older houses, is a huge additional cost. It is something that needs to be looked at. The cost of administration is taking up a lot of money. If the allowance was already there for anyone over 70 years of age, that would reduce down the cost of administration.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely. The Deputy's question was framed in the context of the fuel allowance, but the living alone allowance would be the payment in relation to those people. It is a payment that I intend to focus on in this year's budget. There is no doubt that people on their own have extensive outgoings, particularly those who may end up on their own following the death of their partner or separation. It is an area that I am going to be very focused on in the context of this year's budget. The proposal to give an automatic entitlement to the fuel allowance for somebody who is over 70 would require significant resources and would take away from my capacity to do something on the living alone allowance, but also de-target some of the necessary element of the fuel allowance which we can target at people. I am very conscious of those living of their own and older people living on their own and the very disproportionate bills that they face, oftentimes without any warning or notice. I am going to be very focused on the living alone allowance in the context of budget 2027.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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The cost of running a house for one person is the same as the cost of running it for two people, especially in relation to heating and maintenance. That is where I am coming from in relation to the fuel allowance for the over-70s. There is that huge additional cost. I recall dealing with one man whose basic allowance was the old age pension. His wife died. The income was cut in half but the cost of running the house was the same. In rural areas, we have quite a lot of properties that are not in great shape. They are extremely costly. People do not have the funding now to do major renovations despite all the grants that are there. It still costs a lot more money than what the grants will provide. In that context, I am wondering about making the fuel allowance automatic for people living alone rather than having their income assessed.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We have made considerable changes to the fuel allowance in recent years. We have considerably increased the disallowance in the context of means. A lot more people have qualified for it. We have gone from €290.4 million in 2020 to €557.4 million in 2026. A total of 470,000 households qualify. We need to do more work on the living alone allowance to cater specifically for the kind of cohorts that the Deputy spoke about. In many cases, for the fuel allowance and somebody living on their own, many people will qualify. We will do some more work around communicating the new means. I will be specifically targeting the living alone allowance to address that kind of cohort of people, particularly those who are left on their own, either by death or separation, with large expenses. The Deputy is absolutely right. We have the retrofit programmes and various support programmes, but for many older people it is a very big project to take on. I am going to be doing a lot of work in that space.