Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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225. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to revise the eligibility rules for fuel allowances for persons on the rural social schemes in order that they can apply for the scheme each year based on their current circumstances and not on the eligibility for fuel allowance and circumstances that prevailed at the time of joining the scheme. [32865/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 26 weeks from October to April, to low income households. It was paid to 390,958 recipients in 2015. The estimated cost of the scheme in 2016 is €224 million. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household. My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance as part of the household benefits package to approx. 421,000 customers, at an estimated cost of €228 million in 2016.

The fuel allowance is a means tested payment, targeted at those who are more vulnerable to energy poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. Participants on the rural social scheme can be paid Fuel Allowance where they had applied for or were awarded fuel allowance prior to commencing on the scheme, and where they satisfy or continue to satisfy the conditions.

For the 2016/17 fuel season the eligibility criteria for fuel was changed to allow a participant in an employment support scheme (which includes rural social scheme), who had an underlying entitlement to fuel allowance prior to participation on the scheme but is not in receipt of the allowance because another member of the household is receiving it, to apply for fuel if these circumstances change (e.g. a social welfare fuel recipient is no longer residing at the address). Fuel can be reviewed and awarded provided the employment support scheme participant satisfies all conditions for receipt of fuel allowance.

Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for fuel allowance to allow persons on the rural social scheme to accrue entitlement to fuel while on the scheme would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.