Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to research from Sustainable Energy Ireland that suggests more than 114,000 households are living in fuel poverty; her views on this figure; and her strategy to address this problem. [24786/08]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way she will tackle the issue of fuel poverty among social welfare recipients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24767/08]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to recent remarks by the chief executive of Bord Gáis that the number of people unable to heat their homes is expected to increase substantially over the coming years and that more subsidies would be required by more people in the coming years to meet extra costs; the strategy her Department has of tracking the cost of fuels and analysing its impact on low income family units; and the plans to alter the household benefits package. [24776/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 93, 114 and 139 together.

Fuel poverty has been described as the inability to afford adequate warmth in a home, or the inability to achieve adequate warmth because of the energy inefficiency of the home. Various studies have been conducted in recent years which highlight fuel poverty problems affecting particular groups including households on low income, pensioners and lone parents. Studies include the Institute of Public Health's "All Ireland Paper on Fuel Poverty and Health" published in December 2007 and, more recently Sustainable Energy Ireland's "Energy in the Residential Sector" in June 2008. These studies give varying estimates of the numbers and types of households affected by fuel poverty.

One of the primary contributory factors to fuel poverty identified in reports is the low energy efficiency of parts of the private and public housing stock. Problems in this regard relate mainly to older housing, with poor insulation and draught-proofing or inefficient heating systems. All new housing, including social housing, is being built to modern energy efficiency standards. Local housing authorities are undertaking an ongoing programme, including draught insulation and energy efficiency, to upgrade the older social housing stock and provide better living conditions generally for tenants.

I am aware that the Chief Executive of Bord Gáis recently spoke about the issue of energy affordability in Ireland. He acknowledged that the Government currently provides substantial support for energy affordability through the National Fuel Scheme and the Household Benefits Package but that in addition to this, the energy industry needs to take a pro-active approach on the issue. The increasing cost of fuel will present a challenge to the Government on a number of fronts including the income support response for social welfare recipients.

The main role of the social welfare system in relation to fuel poverty is to provide income supports. Government policy in recent years has focused on significantly increasing primary social welfare rates to ensure that people on social welfare can meet their basic living costs, including heating costs throughout the year. Since December 2001, overall inflation has increased by 27% while energy product prices have increased by 65%. However, increases in social welfare payments have been between 71% and 88% in the same period. The government will continue to use annual budget increases to compensate social welfare recipients for increases in living costs. In addition to primary payments, there are a number of social welfare programmes to assist with heating costs, specifically – the national fuel allowance scheme, the household benefits package and the special heating needs supplement. These arrangements too have been improved in recent years.

The household benefits package was improved in January 2007 when the number of units of electricity covered by the scheme was increased from 1,800 to 2,400. An equivalent increase in the natural gas allowance had already come into effect in October 2006. These allowances also cover standing charges and the associated VAT. The natural gas allowance is an alternative to the electricity allowance for people whose homes are connected to a natural gas supply. People can choose to have the allowance applied to either their electricity or their gas bill, which ever is most beneficial to them. As currently structured, these allowances are linked to unit energy consumption so that people are protected against unit price increases in electricity or gas.

The Department is cooperating with a number of organisations including Sustainable Energy Ireland and Combat Poverty Agency and with the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government in action research projects on energy efficiency. Reports on these fuel research projects, due later this year, will help to inform Government policy in relation to fuel poverty. Any changes to social welfare programmes to assist with heating costs will be considered in a budgetary context and available resources. However, the main focus will be to increase social welfare payments in real terms to enable social welfare recipients to better meet heating and other needs.