asked the Minister for Social Welfare if a person who is in receipt of social welfare disability benefit qualifies for free fuel in accordance with the provisions of the national fuel scheme; the stage at which a person qualifies as a long term social welfare recipient; and if an excess of one or two years on disability benefit qualifies as long term.

12.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of people in each county for each of the past five years who are in receipt of disability benefit and who are also in receipt of free fuel under the national fuel scheme.

It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 4 and 12 together. In order to qualify for free fuel under the national fuel scheme a person must be in receipt of one of the payments specified in the regulations governing the scheme and must fulfil the other conditions stipulated. Disability benefit is not one of the specified payments and a recipient would not, therefore, qualify for fuel irrespective of the length of time he has been in receipt of benefit.

A person who has been receiving disability benefit for at least a year and who is regarded by a medical referee as permanently incapable of work may, however, qualify for invalidity pension, in which event he would be eligible for free fuel, provided the other conditions were satisfied.

Statistics of recipients are not furnished in a form which would enable the figures requested by the Deputy to be supplied.

I accept that rules must be adhered to but there are many people on long term disability benefit far in excess of 12 months which seems to be the statutory period of time before one can apply for an invalidity pension. Many people are left on disability benefit and because they are uninformed of their right to apply for transfer to an invalidity pension they lose out on fringe benefits such as free fuel and free travel. Is there any intention by the Minister's Department to introduce a system whereby people on long term disability benefit, particularly those on monthly long duration medical certification, can, after a certain statutory period — 18 months or so — be called in and examined for the purpose of deciding whether they qualify for invalidity pension and to determine whether they are unfit for work for the rest of their lives?

That is argument and is not in order at Question Time.

The central point of the question relates to the fact that people are on long term disability benefit. The Department should statutorily have these people examined to see if they qualify medically for an invalidity pension.

Does the Minister consider that the allocation of fuel allowances should be made on the basis of income and means rather than on the category of benefit which a person is in receipt of?

The whole area of the fuel scheme is continually under review. It was hoped to have a unified scheme and we still hope to do this. For persons outside the scope of the national fuel scheme assistance may be available under the general supplementary welfare allowance scheme. That has operated quite well in relation to the type of people to which Deputy McCarthy referred. I am sure that the Deputy is well aware of the criteria for qualification for invalidity pension and that any people outside that scope can, if their circumstances warrant it, get a supplement towards heating costs if they need it because of protracted ill-health or infirmity.

5.