Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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590. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration has been given to extending eligibility for the fuel allowance to include recipients of the benefit payment for 65 year olds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52496/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, to 365,000 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.

Qualifying payments for fuel allowance are those payments that are considered long-term payments and an applicant must also satisfy a means test. People on long-term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. It is for this reason that the Department allocates additional payments, supports and resources to help this cohort of claimants.

The Benefit Payment for 65 Year Old's is a short-term payment for people aged 65 who have ceased employment or self-employment and who satisfy the pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. It is not a means tested payment. Accordingly, it is not a qualifying payment for receipt of fuel allowance.

Any decision to include the Benefit Payment for 65 Year Old's as a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary context.

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.