Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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508. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of making the entitlement to fuel allowance automatic for persons aged over 80 years. [49993/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, 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 possible for my Department to provide an estimate of the cost of the measure outlined by the Deputy. The additional cost to the scheme will depend on a number of factors including if it was intended to award Fuel Allowance to all persons aged over 80 years, irrespective of whether Fuel Allowance is already in payment in a household or that the person aged over 80 years is resident in a dwelling such as a nursing home where their heating needs are provided for.

Any estimate will also need to take account of the significant expansion of the Fuel Allowance scheme which I announced in Budget 2023 and in particular those measures extending the Fuel Allowance to the over 70s. It is estimated these measures combined will bring an additional 81,000 households into the Fuel Allowance Scheme from January with a significant proportion of these additional household belonging to persons aged 80 or over.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.