John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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271. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full cost of restoring the fuel allowance to 32 weeks. [28439/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The fuel allowance is a targeted payment of €22.50 per week, paid for the duration of the fuel season from October to April. Over 364,000 low income households benefit from this allowance, at an estimated cost of €227 million in 2018. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. One allowance is paid per household representing a contribution towards the energy costs of a household; it is not intended to meet those costs in full.

The cost of an additional week of fuel allowance is estimated at approx. €8.6 million. Extending the duration of the scheme from 27 to 32 weeks would therefore cost an estimated €42.9 million. Any decision to extend the duration that fuel is paid for would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of budget negotiations.

The fuel scheme is intended to provide some additional support for people on long-term welfare payments during the winter season which clearly does not last for 32 weeks. By reducing the fuel season it restored the core purpose of the payment as a winter fuel support. There was no cut in the rate of payment of the fuel allowance. In 2016, with the improved economic conditions, the rate of fuel allowance was increased from €20 per week to €22.50. The Government believed that increasing the rate during the colder weeks of the year, when the actual need was greatest, rather than extending a lower payment into months during which recipients faced a lesser heating cost, was the correct decision to make.

Fuel allowance is not the sole income support mechanism through which assistance is provided to people with special or additional heating needs. My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance as part of the household benefits package at an estimated cost of €237 million in 2018. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances that have special heating needs. Exceptional needs payments (ENP) may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources.

While I am aware that fuel poverty is a very real issue for low income households, income support is only part of the answer in terms of addressing fuel poverty. The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of supports, investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock and energy efficiency awareness initiatives.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.