Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

106. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason voluntary day centres for elderly persons have no entitlement to the free TV licence which is part of the household benefits package (details supplied). [36506/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The household benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €228 million this year on the household benefits package for over 421,000 customers.

The package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the household benefits package retain that entitlement. Therefore anyone aged under 70 years of age must be in receipt of a qualifying payment from the Department or satisfy a means test in order to qualify for HHB.

Accordingly, HHB is a support to certain people with their household costs and not a grant aid to organisations in the voluntary sector. Such organisations may be eligible to grant aid under a number of Government funded programmes.

While elderly day care centres provide a valuable service to the people who are attending them, their general purpose is to help older people to live in their communities and to promote independent living, and would not be considered the persons main residence. The majority of elderly attendees of these day care centres will be receiving the HHB package for their main residence where I believe they need it most.

I have no plans to change the nature of the package to allow organisations to receive it.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.