Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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633. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the full-year cost and the in-year (single season) cost of increasing the weekly fuel allowance rate by €10, €15, and €20 respectively, based on current recipient numbers and allowing for behavioural and eligibility effects; and to set out any offsetting savings or interactions with the household benefits package; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51433/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The cost of increasing the Fuel Allowance by €10 and €15 and €20 is as follows: -

The Fuel Allowance Scheme and the Household Benefits Package are separate secondary benefits available from my Department subject to satisfying the relevant qualifying conditions. A person or household may receive both secondary benefits at the same time. Therefore, there would be no offsetting savings or interactions with the Household Benefits Package.

The provision of any additional supports such as increasing the weekly rate of Fuel Allowance would have cost implications and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.

Recent expansions to the Fuel Allowance Scheme have resulted in the Budget for the scheme increasing significantly with an estimated expenditure on the scheme in 2025 of €400.5 million compared to an expenditure of €290.45 million in 2020.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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634. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the full-year and in-season costs of increasing the over-66 weekly means limits by €25 and by €50; increasing the capital disregard by €10,000 and by €25,000; and to provide estimated additional recipient numbers under each scenario, with distribution by local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51434/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Means tests are a central part of any social welfare system in ensuring that limited resources are targeted at those who are most in need. Ireland's system of social transfers consistently ranks among the top performers in the European Union for poverty reduction. A key factor in this achievement is Ireland's use of means testing in targeting resources for the most vulnerable in our society. In addition, research, including that presented at the ESRI's Budget Perspectives conference in June, indicates that targeting of supports to more vulnerable cohorts, through means testing, continues to be important even as societal income increases.

Means tests and income thresholds are kept under regular review and a number of significant changes have been made in recent years. A number of changes to means testing which provide for higher income disregards have been introduced in recent Budgets. These disregards ensure that, where people are in receipt of a social assistance payment and are working, a certain level of income from that work is not assessed in the means test.

My Department has over 90 schemes and a significant number are means-tested schemes, each with their own means test. It is not clear from the Deputy's question which scheme he is referring to. Even limiting consideration to schemes where eligibility is restricted to people over 66 years, a number of different means tests apply.

The Department does not currently have the available data and modelling capacity to provide a detailed estimate for the cost of increasing the weekly means limits by €25 or €50 and increasing the various capital disregards by €10,000 or €25,000 across all schemes that apply to people aged 66 years or over. In addition, the Department does not record the local authority area of recipients, so it would not be possible to estimate the impact of such changes on recipient numbers by local authority.

Any prospective changes to means testing arrangements will need to be evaluated and considered within the broader context of overall policy and budgetary considerations.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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635. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will conduct and publish, in advance of Budget 2027, a review of the fuel allowance scheme that examines options to increase the weekly rate; revise the means thresholds for those aged 66 and over; adjust the capital disregard; simplify the application process including automatic awards where data sharing permits; the timeframes and consultative engagement with stakeholder groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51435/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.

However, there have been significant improvements already made in recent years to the Fuel Allowance Scheme resulting in many more vulnerable households qualifying for the payment.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the Fuel Allowance, Household Benefits Package and Living Alone Increase to support vulnerable groups. This is an ongoing activity as part of the Department's budget planning each year and I will continue, as part of the budget planning process, to consider if improvements can be made to ensure that these benefits continue to target vulnerable groups.

The points that the Deputy raise will be taken into consideration when assessing the options for ensuring that the Fuel Allowance supports vulnerable groups.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.