4. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection to outline the plans his Department has to reverse the trend of increasing levels of poverty amongst older people living alone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46289/26]

Sentiment score: -0.21

My question is about older people living alone. According to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, about 30%, or one in three, are at risk of poverty. It seems quite incredible that in a country with a €9 billion surplus in cash and one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world that we would have such a level of people living alone and pensioners in poverty. I would like to hear what the Minister is going to do about it.

Sentiment score: -0.30

The Minister said that the State pension is aimed at making sure older people do not experience poverty but, according to the CSO, one in ten is experiencing consistent poverty. That is a doubling since the year before in 2024. Notably, this is particularly acute in rural areas and in the Minister's constituency of Mayo and Belmullet. Some 27% of households are reliant on the State pension exclusively. They are living alone; they are isolated in rural areas and entirely reliant on State support. One of the things the Minister mentioned was the increase to the living alone allowance. He selectively looked at 2019. The majority of that increase happened in 2020 and there has not been a significant increase to the living alone allowance since. What will the Minister do on the living alone and telephone allowances in the forthcoming budget? What is the threshold for him to tackle poverty for people living alone?

Sentiment score: 0.03

I would strongly welcome the Minister doing that in the forthcoming budget. To come back to the fuel allowance in particular, many older people are struggling to heat their homes. They are often staying in bed rather than getting up because they cannot afford the gas or the home heating oil. I want to focus on the question of targeted energy credits. This is something that has been talked about in the House many times. There are 500,000 households in arrears, according to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. I assume that many households like that include older people living alone. The Minister's Department, in particular, has an obligation to look at how it targets energy credits for different people. I know it can be administratively difficult but I would be interested to know if that is something the Minister is planning to do as well for older people living alone.

Sentiment score: 0.22