John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. This is my first time addressing her in her new role. I compliment her and her hard-working staff, as colleagues have done. What has been done throughout the pandemic by her Department has been truly extraordinary. The budget of €25 billion is colossal but it is needed in times of Brexit and Covid uncertainty.

I was delighted a number of years ago when the Department's name was changed from the Department of Social and Family Affairs to the Department of Social Protection because what has been engaged in throughout the pandemic has been the protection of people's income. The pandemic unemployment payment, which the Department has administered, has been an essential lifeline for so many. I do not know how the Department has got through all the claims and managed to pay arrears in the past few weeks. Great credit is due to the Minister's staff for the work they have done.

I echo the comments of my colleague Senator Currie on the school meals programme. It is probably not a programme that we usually hone in on, but as a former teacher in a DEIS school I believe it is invaluable. We should not underestimate the importance of nutritious meals for students. There are studies that link positive student behaviour with nutritious food, as opposed to junk food. I share my colleagues' desire to get to a position in which many more students are in receipt of school meals.I wish to single out a couple of matters that have already been mentioned. The increase to the carer's support grant, from €1,700 to €1,850, is very welcome. I hope this trend will continue in future years because the work carers do is absolutely extraordinary. The injury benefit, the reduction in the number of days and the increase of €2,000 for widows and surviving partners are all welcome additions and improvements to the payments of the Department of Social Protection.

I would like to flag the issue of the fuel allowance. Senator Ardagh mentioned this earlier. I recognise the importance of the allowance, particularly considering its link to the warmer homes scheme and its role in reducing fuel poverty, but I wish to refer to a certain case I have encountered in respect of it. According to the Department's webpage on income disregards for the fuel allowance, payments such as the Magdalen commission scheme payments, ex gratia payments for personal injuries suffered in the Stardust fire and compensation for people who have contracted hepatitis C are all disregarded, and rightly so, but there is an anomaly concerning the disablement benefit. This probably relates to the word "benefit". The benefit may be payable where one has suffered a loss of physical or mental faculty as a result of an accident at work or a prescribed disease contracted at work. I believe it is because of the word "benefit" that disablement benefit is classified as income that disallows recipients from accessing the fuel allowance. I am dealing with the case of a lady whose husband passed away recently. She was in receipt of the fuel allowance but now that she is on her own, her payments are being examined. She receives a small disablement benefit payment but the Department has stated that because it is a benefit, she is not entitled to the fuel allowance. I ask the Minister to look into this case because of all the additional benefits the fuel allowance brings.