Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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244. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost to the Exchequer of providing a recipient of one-parent family payment with access to the living alone allowance, household benefit package and the telephone support allowance. [20244/23]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost to the Exchequer of providing a recipient of jobseeker’s transitional payment with access to the living alone allowance, household benefit package and the telephone support allowance. [20245/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 245 together.

The Living Alone Increase (LAI) is an extra payment for recipients of certain social welfare payments who live alone. It is an increase of €22 per week available to persons aged 66 or older who live alone and are in receipt of the State Pension, Widow(er) or Surviving Civil Partner's Pension, Incapacity Supplement or Deserted Wife's Benefit. It is also available to those aged under 66 who live alone and are in receipt of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Incapacity Supplement, or Blind Pension.

The estimated cost of the provision of the Living Alone Increase to all those in receipt of One Parent Family Payment (OPFP) and Jobseekers Transition payment (JST) would be as follows:

The Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50. Approximately 150,000 customers are in receipt of the TSA payment. The full year cost of the scheme is estimated at €18.6 million.

The primary objective of the TSA is to allow the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, access to personal alarms or phones for security. Therefore, the criteria for the allowance were framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible.

The estimated cost of the provision of TSA to all those in receipt of OPFP and JST would be as follows:

The Household Benefits Package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €285 million this year on HHB for over 510,000 customers.

People over the age of 70 receive the HHB package, with one package provided per household. The package is also available to people living in the State aged 66-69 years who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments or who satisfy a means test. The package is available to some people under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments.

It is estimated that 20% of people in receipt of OPFP already have access to the HHB package as they are also in receipt of Carer's Allowance, therefore the number of OPFP claims that may benefit from the measure is reduced to 32,988. The estimated cost of the provision of HHB to all those in receipt of OPFP and JST would be as follows:

All proposals, including the proposals outlined by the Deputy could only be considered while taking account of overall Government policy and in a budgetary context.

I trust that this clarifies these matters for the Deputy.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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246. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to support a matter (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20259/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.

I can confirm that my Department originally received an application for disability allowance (DA) from the person concerned on 8 February 2023. 8 The application was examined and, based upon the evidence submitted, it was refused on 25 March 2023. It was refused as the client failed to supply the additional information requested on 13 February 2023.

This information was subsequently received by the Department and a review of the decision 25 March 2023 was carried out. Following this review, the person concerned was awarded DA with effect from 21 December 2022. The person concerned was notified in writing of this revised decision on 31 March 2023. The first payment was made by their chosen payment method on 19 April 2023.

I can confirm that arrears of payment due from 21 December 2022 to 18 April 2023 also issued to the person concerned on 24 April 2023. A letter notifying the person of this issued on 24 April 2023.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.