Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 January 2026
38. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for the fuel allowance, per month, for the past three years, specifying which of these applicants are also in receipt of the working family payment or another automatically qualifying social welfare payment, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2836/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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 for 28 weeks over the winter season - from late September to early April - at the weekly rate of €38 or, if preferred, by way of two 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.
As part of Budget 2026, the weekly rate of Fuel Allowance increased by €5 from €33 to €38.
Fuel Allowance is administered across a wide range of qualifying schemes and across different IT platforms. As a result, the breakdown of applications by month and by scheme is not readily available.
At the end of December 2025, there were 420,646 households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance of which 289,582 recipients were receiving the weekly payment and 131,054 recipients were in receipt of the payment by two instalments. Fuel Allowance is a demand led scheme. It should be noted that the number of qualified households continuously fluctuates, as recipients join and exit the scheme as their circumstances change.
The records of my Department indicate that there are 3,946 recipients of Working Family Payment who are also getting Fuel Allowance at the end of December 2025. In these cases, the qualification for Fuel Allowance is due to being in receipt of another qualifying scheme in addition to Working Family Payment.
As announced in Budget 2026, Fuel Allowance is being extended to all recipients of Working Family Payment, provided the allowance is not already in payment to another member of the household. My officials are working on the IT development required to implement this budget measure. It is expected that payment of Fuel Allowance will issue to Working Family Payment recipients in March/April, including any arrears due back to January 2026.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
