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

Senators will be aware that fuel allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners and people with disabilities in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on social welfare payments. People on long-term social welfare payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. The working family payment is a weekly tax repayment available to employees with children. We need to bear in mind that a person in receipt of the working family payment can continue to receive the payment for 52 weeks, even if their income increases. I am awaiting a previously requested report on the provision of fuel allowance for those in receipt of the working family payment. I will make that available as soon as it is completed. I expect to have it within the next number of weeks.