Councillors Call For Living Alone Increase To Be Expanded

Wexford County Councillors have called on the Government to remove the age restrictions from the Living Alone Increase.

The allowance is given to social welfare recepients who live alone or collect the Bereaved Partner's Pension.

However, the scheme is only available for those who are over the age of 66.

On Monday the council passed a motion asking the Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary to remove this restriction.

Fine Gael councillor Robbie Staples brought the motion and says it could benefit so many more people who lose their partners:

"No one can tell when an unfortunate event will happen in your life so we need to remove the age criteria.

"You're effectively going from a two income household to a one income one and you're asking that person to absorb all the costs and it's not easy especially at a difficult time.

"These people in most cases don't have access to the Fuel Allowance or any other social protection other than the Widow's Pension which in my eyes is not fair because they never asked for this."

The allowance currently stands at €25 a week and is only available to those younger than 66 if they are in receipt of the Disability Allowance,Invalidity Pension, Incapacity Supplement or Blind Pension.

Councillor Staples says the allowance criteria should be expanded to include all those who have lost their partners and many families should be able to avail of this scheme:

"There's a lot of people out there who are under 66 and have lost loved ones and unfortunately my family is no different and there's a lot of families in the chamber who were in a similar position.

"I would encourage the Minister to look into this and come back with a suitable solution.

"Whether that's a one for all bracket or maybe it'll be means tested, I don't know but for me it needs to be extended out."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.