Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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168. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to introduce a supplementary allowance to allow certain persons on State old age pension to receive an allowance to cover the cost of telephone line where they have installed a personal pendant alarm; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51519/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The overall concern of the Government in this and previous Budgets has been to protect the primary weekly social welfare rates. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other core payments is critical in relation to protecting people from poverty. To allow us to protect these core payments, we have had to look very carefully at other additional payments. While we are ending the telephone allowance the savings that this will provide means that we have been able to keep at the same rates the other elements of the household benefits package, including the free electricity/gas allowance and the free television licence. We have also retained the fuel allowance, free travel and the living alone increase.

The monthly allowances under the household benefits package are a contribution towards the cost of services; they are not intended to meet those costs in full. The ending of the telephone allowance of €9.50 per month (or about €2.20 per week) will not result in the automatic removal of any landline service linked to a personal alarm. Indeed, since the Budget announcement, I am aware that one telephone company has advertised that they will cover the value of the allowance. I would hope that other telephone companies will consider this.

The telephone allowance was introduced at a time when telephones were expensive and uncommon and a landline service was the only option available to the customer. The market has changed enormously since the introduction of the allowance, with several companies providing a range of services and rates with bundled services including television, telephone and broadband and pay-as-you-go mobiles. There are also personal security services that use mobile technology rather than land lines. Accordingly, I have no plans to introduce a supplementary welfare allowance to cover the cost of a telephone line where a person in receipt of a State pension has installed a personal pendant alarm.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government operates the senior’s alert scheme which provides grant support for the supply of equipment such as personal alarms, smoke detectors and security lighting to enable older people without sufficient means to continue to live securely in their homes. The budget allocation for 2013 was €2.35 million. There has been no reduction in this funding in Budget 2014.

It is important to be aware that Ireland’s pensioners as a group have the lowest consistent poverty rate and, as a group compared to the rest of the population, are least likely to be at risk of poverty - pointing to the adequacy and importance of the State pension. Between 2004 and 2011, consistent poverty for older people (those over 65) fell from 3.3% to

1.9%. The ‘at risk of poverty’ rate for people in that age group also reduced from 27.1% to 9.7% over the same period.