Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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486. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider extending social welfare eligibility to stamp 1 visa holders, particularly in cases of serious illness or emergency access to schemes such as the supplementary welfare allowance considering the recent focus on migration and need to ensure supports for refugees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16404/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Matters regarding the right to reside and conditions attached to the stamps provided to visa holders are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Justice.

The Habitual Residence Condition (HRC) was introduced for certain social assistance schemes and for Child Benefit, with effect from 1 May 2004. The term 'habitually resident' conveys a degree of permanence and implies a close association between the applicant and the country from which payment is claimed.

Before a decision can be made regarding a person's habitual residence, it must be established whether the person has a legal right to reside in the State. After that is established, five factors are then examined to determine whether a person satisfies the HRC. These 5 factors are -

a) the length and continuity of residence in Ireland,

b) the length and reasons for any absence from Ireland,

c) the nature and pattern of the person's employment,

d) the person's main centre of interest and

e) the future intentions of the person applying.

Each case is dealt with on its own merits and a decision is based on the application of the legislation and guidelines to the particular circumstances of the case.

In relation to people from Ukraine accessing Social Welfare Assistance, on 4 March 2022, the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted the implementing decision regarding the Temporary Protection Directive, due to the mass influx of persons fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of the war. This means that people arriving from Ukraine have been granted the status to avail of income supports from my Department.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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487. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason that persons on community employment schemes are required to meet the qualifying period of 390 days in receipt of the jobseeker’s allowance in order to qualify for the fuel allowance before they enter community employment given that those referred to community employment by her Department are obliged to engage as per the conditions of the jobseekers allowance and therefore, through no fault of their own fail to meet the qualifying period for the fuel allowance previously; if she will examine the matter and consider removing this stipulation for those engaged on schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16425/22]

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, which is supporting up to an estimated 400,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. 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 payment is targeted towards those who are more vulnerable to energy poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.

If a participant on a Community Employment (CE) scheme was in receipt of Fuel Allowance prior to going on the scheme, they can continue to receive the Fuel Allowance payment while participating on the scheme once they continue to satisfy the qualifying conditions.

If the CE participant was not in receipt of the Fuel Allowance payment prior to going on the CE scheme they may still apply for and qualify for Fuel Allowance in the following circumstances.

- If the CE scheme participant was in receipt of a long-term qualifying payment prior to going on the CE scheme this will allow them to satisfy the qualifying payment element. However, all other qualifying conditions of Fuel Allowance must also be satisfied.

- Where the CE scheme participant has an established underlying entitlement to Fuel Allowance but is not in receipt of the allowance because another member of the household was receiving the payment, it is open to the CE scheme participant to apply for fuel allowance if these circumstances change, e.g., where the fuel allowance recipient leaves the address.

A CE Scheme helps people to get back to work by offering part-time and temporary placements in jobs based within local communities. Participants can take up other part-time work during their CE placement. A participant's jobseekers payment ceases and payment is made by way of a wage. It is for this reason participants on a CE scheme cannot accrue entitlement to Fuel Allowance.

In Budget 2022 I announced that from September 2022 the period a personmust be in receipt of Jobseeker's allowance or Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) to access the Fuel Allowance scheme is reduced to 12 months. This will, of course, also benefit people on CE schemes who previously have been in receipt of the above payments for greater than 312 days but did not meet the 390-day requirement.

Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for Fuel Allowance for other people participating on a CE scheme would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

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.