Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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653. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she considered an extension to the fuel allowance season; if so, the reason it was decided not to extend the allowance as occurred in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21614/21]

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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657. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she plans to extend the fuel allowance payment for a further four weeks as occurred in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21780/21]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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658. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the promised extension of the fuel allowance in 2021 given it ceased on 9 April 2021 (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21781/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 653, 657 and 658 together.

The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to over 372,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021.  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.

The Fuel Allowance is an important measure that assists pensioners and other welfare dependent householders to address income deficiency, especially during the winter when a household faces increased heating needs.  The duration of the scheme is designed to coincide with the coldest periods of the year and it is for this reason the scheme runs from October to mid-April. 

In order to support vulnerable households during the initial COVID-19 emergency, financial resources at that time allowed for the 2019/20 fuel season to be extended by four weeks for existing eligible customers on a once-off basis.  While I fully understand that these are difficult times for many people, especially for the vulnerable and the elderly, any further economic measures, such as extending the 2020/21 fuel allowance season, can only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.  In this regard, the Deputy will appreciate the scale of support provided throughout the pandemic with over €7.3 Billion spent on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment alone to date and over 22 million individual payments issued under the scheme.

In Budget 2021, the Government targeted one third of carbon tax revenues to go towards boosting the incomes of the poorest in our society.  Based on ESRI research, three key DSP payments were targeted for increases in the budget as a result - the Fuel Allowance, the Qualified Child Allowance and the Living Alone Allowance.  Accordingly, with effect from January 2021, I increased the Fuel Allowance by €3.50 per week to €28 for a period of 28 weeks, while the increase in carbon tax on solid fuels will not take effect until May 2021.  This ensured that recipients benefitted from the increased payment over the winter period. 

In the context of the COVID-19 emergency, the Government has already allocated c. €11.5 billion in a package of social protection measures to assist people impacted by COVID-19.  This demonstrates the Government’s absolute commitment to provide effective targeted supports during the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

Finally, 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.  Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.