Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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76. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost if the telephone support allowance increased to €5 per week. [26470/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Telephone Support Allowance is a weekly payment of €2.50 for people on certain social welfare payments who are also getting both the Living Alone Increase and the Fuel Allowance. The primary objective of the Telephone Support Allowance 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.

The full year cost of the scheme in 2024 is estimated at €20.9 million. Approximately 156,000 customers are currently in receipt of the Telephone Support Allowance payment and this number continues to increase.

It is assumed that the trend in increased numbers will continue and on that basis, it is expected that there will be approximately 163,000 recipients of the Telephone Support Allowance in 2025. The estimated additional cost of increasing the weekly rate of Telephone Support Allowance from €2.50 to €5 would be in the region of €21.2 million.

All proposals, including any proposals to increase the Telephone Support Allowance could only be considered while taking account of overall Government policy and in a budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost to increase the qualified child payment by €7 for over 12s and by €4 for under 12s. [26471/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full-year cost of increasing the qualified child payment by €7 per week for children aged 12 and over is €31m.

The estimated full-year cost of increasing the qualified child payment by €4 per week for children aged under 12 is €47m.

These costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.