Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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815. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the living-alone allowance is counted or discounted for the purpose of calculating the means for the fuel allowance. [12693/23]

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 €412 million in 2023. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household.

In the case of applicants in receipt of the Living Alone Increase (LAI), the Fuel Allowance guidelines indicate that the rate of LAI received is disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes. The disregard also covers the recent one-off payment increases to the LAI. This ensures that the LAI does not affect a person's entitlement to Fuel Allowance.

If the Deputy is aware of any applicant that was refused the Fuel Allowance payment solely because they are in receipt of the LAI, I would ask him to pass on the details to my Department so that the application can be reviewed .

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.