Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 301: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will consider submitting a supplementary budget to extend the fuel allowance for elderly and other persons in view of the winter conditions being experienced by clients. [13224/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders who are in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their extra heating needs during the winter season. A fuel allowance of €9 per week —€12.90 in designated urban smokeless fuel zones — is payable to eligible households for a 29 week period from the end of September to mid-April each year.

Significant increases in recent years in primary social welfare payment rates, such as the old age pension, have improved the income position for people dependent on the social welfare system. These rates are payable throughout the year and are intended to cover basic living costs, including cooking and heating, supplemented where applicable by the fuel allowance during the winter heating season. Many households also qualify for electricity or gas allowances throughout the year under the social welfare household benefits scheme. In addition, a heating supplement may be payable through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in cases of individual special need.

The 2004-5 winter heating season for fuel allowance purposes, which started on 27 September 2004, ended on 15 April. Any extension of the period over which the scheme applies in subsequent winter seasons would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in a budget context in the light of other priorities.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 302: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of claims for family income supplement which are in payment; and his estimate of the number of families which fail to apply for their entitlement under this scheme. [13237/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Family income supplement, FIS, was introduced in 1984 to provide income support for employees on low earnings with families and thereby preserve the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where they might otherwise only be marginally better off than if they were fully reliant on social welfare payments. Weekly payments of FIS are made to families, including one-parent families, with children under 18 or between 18 and 22 if in full-time education, where at least one parent is in full-time remunerative employment of not less than 19 hours per week, or 38 hours per fortnight, where the employment is likely to last at least three months and where the income of the family is less than a prescribed weekly amount.

The number of FIS claims in payment at week ending 8 April 2005 is 15,040. This represents an increase of nearly 25% in just over two years, on the 12,043 recipients at the end of December 2002. Weekly FIS income limits have risen by €84 since 2002, a net increase of €50.40. The guaranteed minimum rate of payment for anyone who qualifies for FIS increased to €20 from January 2004.

It is difficult to estimate the number of families who fail to apply for their entitlements under the family income supplement scheme. However, research undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute in 1997, which was based on the results of the living in Ireland survey 1994, suggested that at that time, fewer than one in three of potentially eligible claimants were actually in receipt of the payment. Since those with a higher entitlement are more likely to avail of the scheme, the take-up in expenditure terms was then estimated to be somewhat higher at between 35% and 38% of potential expenditure.

International research on schemes similar to FIS and the ESRI analysis has pointed to misconceptions of the scheme and lack of proper information as factors in low take-up levels. For example, people may not realise that FIS is not taxable and does not affect entitlement to a medical card. My Department undertakes a number of proactive measures to ensure that people are aware of possible entitlement to family income supplement. In this regard, ongoing publicity is provided in a number of ways, which include advising all newly awarded one-parent family payment recipients, advising all employers annually in PRSI mailshots and examining entitlement for all recipients of the back to work scheme. FIS has also been extensively advertised on local and national press and radio, in poster campaigns and targeted mailshots. Information on all social welfare schemes is also available on the Department's website and from any of the Department's local offices.