Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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514. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to extend or reinstate the telephone allowance to all pensioners; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28784/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The new weekly Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a payment of €2.50. Customers of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection who are in receipt of a qualifying payment and who are also in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance and the Fuel Allowance automatically qualify for the TSA. Approximately 127,000 customers are in receipt of the TSA payment. The estimated full year cost of the scheme is €16.14 million.

The primary objective of the TSA is to allow the most vulnerable people access to personal alarms or phones for security. The allowance will also encourage social contact and assist in the prevention of social isolation for those living alone.

In the previous Budgets, the Government has concentrated resources on increasing the rate of the pension, rather than on the household benefits package.

The criteria for the TSA are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. Fuel Allowance is a means tested payment and these criteria will ensure that the TSA payment goes to those most at risk of social isolation.

Any decision to extend the TSA scheme to all pensioners regardless of their means or personal circumstances or to reinstate the telephone allowance element of the household benefits package would have significant budget implications and would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.