The Minister for Social Protection says she has no plans to amend the guidelines to allow the time spent on JobBridge to count towards the accrual of time for eligibility for the fuel allowance.
Minister Joan Burton was replying to a Dáil question from a Kerry South Deputy.
Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister if a person on jobbridge, who does not meet the required number of days on jobseekers could be eligible for the fuel allowance.
Minister Burton said her department will spend almost €215 million in 2012 on the fuel allowance scheme benefitting some 400,000 people.
The cost of the fuel allowance scheme has risen by 160% since 2005 when there were 265,000 people on the scheme at a cost of 82 million euro.
