Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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118. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans, due to the cold weather, to extend the free fuel allowance to the end of April 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21957/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department will spend €211 million on the fuel allowance scheme this year, helping approximately 410,000 recipients with their heating costs. A similar number (approximately 410,000 people) receive the household benefits package, the electricity and gas element of which is worth €420 per year at a cost of €284 million in 2013.

The fuel allowance is paid for 26 weeks over the coldest months of the year, from October to April, and final payments for the 2012/2013 season were due to be paid in the first week of April. Because of the cold weather conditions being experienced at that time, I extended the fuel allowance season by one week to further assist recipients.

The 2012/2013 fuel allowance season has now ended and I have no plans to make further payments under the scheme. The 2013/2014 fuel allowance season will commence in October 2013.