I also want to raise a pension-related issue, namely, the plight of pensioners and low income households in this country who are facing a double whammy this weekend. People will lose their fuel allowance as the winter scheme will come to an end at the end of April. However, the cost of heating oil will increase as a result of the introduction of the carbon levy. When the Minister for Finance announced the budget last year, he introduced a carbon levy which is coming into effect on Saturday, 1 May 2010 in respect of heating oil. It will increase the price of heating oil by 8.7%.

When the Minister introduced the budget, he promised that a vouched system of fuel allowances would be introduced for low income families who were affected by the introduction of the carbon levy. My colleague, Deputy Shortall, has been pursuing the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, and his predecessor about this issue for the past six months. During that time the Government has not done anything to introduce the allowance. There are 300,000 households in this country who will be affected by this next Saturday. The increase of 8.7% in their heating oil bill, coming on top of the increase in the price of oil of 37% over the course of the past year, means that the total increase for low income households which are dependent on home heating oil will be 45%.

The levy is due to be introduced next Saturday. Will the Taoiseach introduce the allowance, as was promised in the budget, or will he postpone the introduction of the carbon levy on heating oil until such time as the allowance is introduced to protect low income families from the effect of the carbon levy?

The current allowance for free fuel and the various supplementary social welfare schemes in place to assist low income families will be available and cover the period from autumn to March, which is the period when people are most in need of heating requirements. Therefore, the question of the provision of that scheme will be provided for in the normal way from then on. In the meantime, if there are any hardship cases, the exceptional needs payments scheme continues to be available.

The Deputy can ask a brief supplementary question.

That does not address the issue at all. The winter fuel allowance which normally operates from October to April will expire; it is a standard fuel allowance which is available throughout the winter. Many families and, in particular, elderly people, who are more prone to the cold than others, will know that the end of April is not the appropriate time to end the scheme. If we have the kind of summer we had last year, many elderly people will have recourse to heating during the summer period.

The Minister for Finance promised an additional allowance specifically for low income families. He said it would be a vouched allowance but never spelled out what kind of vouched allowance it would be. There was to be a specific allowance to protect low income households from the impact of the carbon levy. This levy will increase the price of heating oil by 8.7% which, as I pointed out, comes on top of increases in the price of oil over the past year. It will present an additional hardship for people whose social welfare payments were cut by the Government in the budget and who had an additional cut in their payments as a result of the abolition of the Christmas bonus. They are now facing additional fuel costs because of the introduction of the carbon levy.

The Minister, Deputy Mary Hanafin, who is sitting beside the Taoiseach and is prompting his reply, promised Deputy Shortall last February that this scheme would be in place before the carbon levy was introduced. It will come into effect on Saturday. Will the allowance be in place by Saturday or will the Taoiseach postpone the introduction of the carbon levy until it is in place, in line with the commitment made by the Minster, Deputy Hanafin, when she held the social and family affairs portfolio?

The situation, as I have outlined it to the Deputy, is that in regard to the time from when the scheme operates allowance will be made for low income families. In the meantime the exceptional needs payment will be provided for anyone experiencing hardship through the supplementary welfare scheme.

Community welfare officers are snowed under. They are overwhelmed.

The Government promised vouchers from 1 May.

The Taoiseach, without interruption.

There will not be a question of anyone being snowed under. It is a question of making sure that the exceptional needs payment system will meet any hardship in that regard.

The Taoiseach has not even given this a second thought just because they are poor families and poor households.