Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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451. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of the fuel allowance; the number of applications for the fuel allowance; the number of refusals for the fuel allowance over the past three years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10513/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare dependent householders with their winter heating costs. The payment is a contribution towards heating costs; it is not intended to meet these costs in full. The payment is made over the winter season - from September to April - at the weekly rate of €33 or, if preferred, by way of two lump sum instalments - one in September and one in January. Only one Fuel Allowance is payable per household. Those who qualify for the payment do not need to reapply annually.

The records of the Department indicate that 411,395 households were in receipt of Fuel Allowance at the end of December 2023. Those who qualified for Fuel Allowance last year automatically receive the payment again this year provided they continue to fulfil the eligibility requirements. They do not therefore need to re-apply.

The Fuel Allowance is paid, in conjunction with primary social welfare schemes, across a number of IT systems with differing functionality for recording processing activity, and consequently detail on the number of applications received and refused is not readily accessible. Provisional data indicates that

• 74,565 applications were received in 2023 of which 9,682 were disallowed.
• 63,150 applications were received in 2022, of which 12,257 were disallowed.
• 38,718 applications were received in 2021, of which 9,231 were disallowed.