asked the Minister for Social Welfare the cost of providing a free electricity allowance and a free telephone rental allowance to all widows living alone or with dependants; and if it is proposed to provide this allowance during 1986.

The cost of extending the schemes in question in the manner suggested by the Deputy would be £3.6 million in a full year. There are no proposals for such an extension.

Will the Minister consider including widows whose husbands were in receipt of such an allowance as old age pensioners or as people entitled to a relevant allowance? Those women, because they are a few years younger than their husbands, are not entitled to free electricity or a free telephone rental allowance, benefits that were available to their husbands.

I appreciate that some of the cases referred to by the Deputy are hardship cases but the scheme for free electricity allowance and free telephone rental allowance from its inception was based on age qualification or infirmity. It would be a departure from the original intention of the scheme to extend it to cover the people referred to by the Deputy. One may argue that we should depart from those criteria for widows but if we do an equally strong or better case can be made for extending the terms of the scheme to the unemployed or those on disability allowance. The minimum age to qualify under the scheme is 66 or those who have not reached that age must be suffering from a certain degree of incapacity, in receipt of an invalidity pension or a disabled persons maintenance allowance to qualify. There are no proposals in my Department to extend the terms of this scheme to the categories referred to.

I accept that the figure of £3.6 million was an answer to my original question but I put it to the Minister that the suggestion I put forward in the House would not cost any money if granted to those who received these allowances while their husbands were alive. Will the Minister, without making a commitment today, consider families who were in receipt of these allowances while the father of the household was alive?

All schemes are looked at regularly. I must point out to the Deputy that the whole area of social welfare is being investigated by a commission and a report is expected soon. I am sure recommendations will be put forward regarding this matter.

How can I make a submission to the commission on behalf of such people?

The commission has been sitting since August 1983. Submissions were invited earlier but I cannot tell the Deputy if he is too late now to put forward a submission. I will arrange to have the Deputy's comments brought to the attention of the commission.

What is the problem about continuing to grant a free electricity allowance to a widow whose husband was entitled to it? Such a move would not mean any extra cost to the State.

There is no difficulty if the widow is 66 years of age but a difficulty arises if she is under that age. The allowance is confined to people over 66 years of age and any change in the scheme would leave it open to many more people. Unemployed people and those on disability benefit might be able to make a stronger case for these allowances than some widows——

There is no extra cost involved.

The Deputy must be aware that some widows receiving a contributory pension are in full time employent, and in social justice, more anomalies would be created by such an extension. It is not a simple matter.

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