Thousands of Leitrim households to receive Fuel Allowance from this week

Over 4,000 households in Leitrim will begin to receive the fuel allowance scheme today

The Fuel Allowance is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare recipients with their winter heating costs.

The scheme will run for 28 weeks from now until April, with recipients getting a weekly rate of €33, or, if they choose, two instalment payments of €462 each.

Announcing the commencement of the Fuel Allowance season, Minister Calleary said: “The Fuel Allowance plays a vital role in supporting hundreds of thousands of families with their heating costs over the winter months. This is such a valuable support for so many households.”

Around 410,000 households across the State will receive the payment this winter, according to the Government.

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Leitrim had the lowest number of houses that qualified for the payment in the country, with 4,194. Meanwhile, Donegal had 20,364, Sligo had 7,066, Roscommon had 6,680, and Longford had 5,330.

One person in a household can qualify for the Fuel Allowance if they are aged 66 or over, or getting certain long-term social welfare payments. Only one Fuel Allowance is payable per household.

The scheme has been expanded this year to allow more households to qualify by lowering the age of those who are eligible to 66 years and removing the need for them to be a recipient of social protection.

From January 2025, Carer’s Allowance became a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance, subject to the applicant meeting all criteria of the Fuel Allowance scheme, including satisfying the means test.

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Leitrim Councillor Padraig Fallon is happy to see the payment come in, but does not think it goes far enough and says there needs to be work to tackle the price of energy.

“While we know that fuel poverty is an issue in many households, no doubt about that I would just like to add that energy prices are an awful issue and we see that with the huge amount of arrears with energy bills, so hopefully we will see something in that regard. It appears that the government has ruled it out, but who knows, maybe we will see,“ said the Sinn Féin Councillor.

Those who received the payment last year do not need to reapply for Fuel Allowance if their circumstances have not changed and they continue to get the same social welfare payment.