Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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387. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost in 2026 of increasing the income limit to be eligible for fuel allowance for persons aged over 66 to €560 per week for a single person or €1,120 for a couple; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53847/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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 Department does not hold data on the means or household composition of pensioner households and, therefore, cannot provide a costing for the measure outlined by the Deputy.

Any further changes to the criteria for accessing the fuel allowance scheme would require additional funding for the scheme and therefore any decision to increase the Fuel Allowance thresholds would have to form part of overall budgetary negotiations.

There have been significant improvements made in recent years to the Fuel Allowance Scheme. These improvements have resulted in many more households qualifying for the payment and 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 trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.