Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1071. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a route exists by which a person can qualify for the fuel allowance on medical grounds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45149/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €630 each year) from October to April, to over 368,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €227 million in 2018. 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 under the household benefits scheme at an estimated cost of €182 million in 2018.

The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. Therefore to receive the fuel allowance a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment from my Department and also have satisfied a means test. A person cannot qualify for the fuel allowance payment on medical grounds alone.

Qualifying schemes for fuel allowance include disability allowance, invalidity pension, blind pension and incapacity supplement under the disablement pension scheme. These are schemes for which a recipient must have a long term disability or health issue to qualify for them.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources and this may include exceptional heating costs.

Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for the fuel allowance scheme to include people who are not on a qualifying payment would require considerable extra funding for the scheme and would have to be considered in overall budgetary negotiations.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.