Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2026
113. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing the fuel allowance weekly income limit for persons aged 66 or over by €25, €50 and €100 for a single person, with the corresponding increase for couples; and the estimated full-year cost of introducing a tapered rate of fuel allowance for persons whose means exceed the limit by up to €100 a week. [69198/26]
View answerFuel Allowance eligibility encompasses 22 qualifying schemes, demonstrating the comprehensive nature of the support available to eligible households. In addition to these qualifying schemes, people over 66 do not need to be in receipt of a payment from this Department to qualify for Fuel Allowance, subject to satisfying the means test. According to the latest CSO data, there are just over 1.8 million households in Ireland. Of these, 463,910 households are eligible for the Fuel Allowance scheme, representing approximately 26% of all households nationwide.
Taking account of the fact that the Fuel Allowance is a household-based payment and that qualification is not just based on the means test but on a number of other qualifying criteria such as household composition, it is not possible for my Department to provide an accurate projection of the potential cost of the measures outlined by the Deputy. Also, my Department does not maintain records across all schemes of the amount by which unsuccessful Fuel Allowance applicants are over the income threshold.
The provision of any additional supports would have cost implications and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
