Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 413: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on allowing free schemes to be retained by persons on pension, when a son or daughter who is still in full-time education turns 23 years of age. [42186/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The household benefits package includes the electricity and gas allowance, telephone allowance and free television licence schemes. People aged 70 or over and people in receipt of carer's allowance qualify for the package regardless of household composition. In order to qualify for household benefits people aged under 70 years of age must be in receipt of a qualifying payment or satisfy a means test and be living alone or only with excepted people. Excepted people for the purposes of the scheme include dependent children under age 18 or under age 22 and in full-time education. I have no plans to extend the criteria for the household benefits. Further extensions to the schemes could only be considered in a budgetary context and taking account of the financial and other needs of those not covered by the existing arrangements.