Written answers

Tuesday, 18 October 2005

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Benefits

9:00 pm

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 538: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position regarding the payment of the fuel allowance to the tenants of Dublin City Council senior citizen flat schemes and flat schemes generally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29217/05]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus 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 service executive payments towards their additional heating needs during the winter season.

As a long-standing policy within the scheme, fuel allowances are not payable in cases where a person has access to their own fuel supply, or is benefiting from a subsidised or low cost heating service, such as those provided by Dublin City Council at a number of its housing complexes.

In the course of a routine review of fuel allowance payments, the Department recently ceased fuel allowance entitlement which had been paid in error in a number of cases where recipients were in local authority accommodation with subsidised or low cost heating.

The allowances were withdrawn in these cases with effect from the start of the winter heating season and my Department will not be seeking repayment. The basis for this policy condition of the fuel allowance scheme is that the contribution that tenants in communal heating situations make towards their heating costs is limited to a fixed amount, typically around €6 per week, included as part of their overall rent charge. Unlike other social welfare clients who must buy their own fuel at prevailing retail cost, these tenants are protected from increases in heating costs, the true cost of which is subsidised significantly by Dublin City Council and the other local authorities concerned. I have no plans at present to change the fuel allowance eligibility rules in such cases.

More generally, the rates of fuel allowance payable and the season duration are under active review currently in my Department, particularly in view of the significant recent increases in domestic heating fuel prices. However, any change to the scheme would have very significant ongoing cost implications and would have to be considered in the context of the budget, and in the light of the resources available to me for improvements in social welfare generally.

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