I ask the Minister if he will develop plans to target electric vehicle grants towards lighter and smaller vehicles to encourage the market for the types of electric vehicles that one frequently sees in other European cities. These are generally priced lower than the €14,000 threshold that is set for eligibility for grants in Ireland. This would all be with a view to ensuring that the new vehicle fleet is as efficient as possible and less of a safety risk to pedestrians and cyclists than the heavier SUVs. I ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter.

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this important matter. I acknowledge that this is an area in which the Deputy has particular interest. The Deputy is no different from me in that, as someone who represents a rural constituency, he understands completely the challenges parents of this young lady and others have come to him about. The Deputy previously asked about difficulties young people may have in attending training centres and places of employment. I responded that a PA service may be of benefit. I wish to clarify that I was speaking specifically of the provision of PA support, which the Deputy has raised here, in circumstances where young people are attending further or higher education. I agree with the Deputy in that, unfortunately, geography and pot luck are sometimes the case.

The Deputy is asking for the reinstatement of this service. He is also right - this is not stated in the notes - that I reconvened the relevant committee and had officials from all Departments attend it. What was very interesting was that while we say within the HSE that we do not provide transport to attend services, we spend €40 million on transport annually. The HSE spends €40 million in supporting young people to attend their day services.

This funding includes both capital grants to support the purchase of EVs and capital funding for the delivery of EV charging infrastructure.

Further funding has been allocated in 2023 to ensure the continued transition to EVs. This underpins the Government’s commitment to making EVs accessible to all. This funding will continue to incentivise the switch to electric vehicles as well as enabling the expansion of a fast and rapid electric vehicle charging network to stay ahead of demand.

There are currently almost 85,000 EVs registered on Irish roads as of the end of January. That number is expected to increase as the price of EVs continue to fall relative to their combustion engine equivalents. It is expected that as manufacturers ramp up EV production, costs will become more comparable to traditional combustion engine cars within the next number of years, which will make the total ownership much more attractive and competitive, particularly given fuel prices trends.

A number of new vehicles entered the market last year with a trend towards smaller and mid-size family cars. An additional number of new market entrants are expected to further expand the availability of more affordable EVs starting this year. Further affordable segment models are expected to be announced as new EV focused manufacturers enter the European market.

Our EV incentive system is weighted towards the lower cost and smaller end of the market. An EV purchase grant award is available to vehicles with a maximum cost of €60,000. This grant has been reduced to €3,500 from July this year. There is a further generous vehicle registration tax, VRT, rebate available to EVs, with the maximum amount available to vehicles costing less than €40,000, and no VRT relief available to vehicles costing more than €50,000.

As per the terms and conditions of the EV grant programme, privately purchased vehicles of category M1, that is, passenger vehicles with no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat, with a retail price of €14,000 or above, are eligible for grant support. Any privately purchased M1 category vehicles with a retail price of below €14,000 are currently not eligible to receive grant payments.

I thank the Minister. He will get an opportunity to come back in.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo. The household benefits package comprises the electricity or gas allowance and the free television licence. The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €285 million this year on the household benefits package for more than 510,000 customers and their households.

The household benefits package is available to those aged 70 or over, regardless of means and household composition and subject to one package per household. It is also available as a supplementary allowance to those in receipt of various social welfare payments, including but not limited to carer's allowance, State contributory pension, State non-contributory pension and widow's-widower's or surviving civil partner's contributory pension. While there has been no recent increase to the gas-electricity element of the household benefits package, the Government instead has targeted resources available to it towards increases to core social welfare payments and to more targeted payments such as the fuel allowance.

It is important to note that these targeted increases were informed by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, research, which indicated that certain household types, such as those living alone, were at a higher risk of poverty than other households.

During the period referred to by the Deputy, the living alone increase, which is an extra payment for people who are living alone and receiving certain social welfare payments, has increased from €7.70 to €22 per week, an almost tripling of the weekly rate. Also, during that period, the weekly rate of the fuel allowance payment has increased by 65% from €20 to €33 a week. There has also been significant expansion of the fuel allowance qualifying criteria, and in budget 2023 the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, announced the largest ever expansion of the fuel allowance criteria.

From January 2023, a new fuel allowance means threshold was introduced for people aged 70 years and over. The new means threshold is €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. Under the formula used to assess means for the fuel allowance for over-70s, the threshold for capital that is disregarded in the assessment was increased from €20,000 to €50,000. The weekly means threshold for those aged under 70 was increased by €80 to €200 above the appropriate rate of the contributory State pension.

Similarly, the allowable means for household benefits purposes for those aged between 66 and 69 not in receipt of a qualifying payment was also increased by €80 to €200 above the appropriate rate of the contributory State pension.

The Government is also aware of the increased cost of living and, in budget 2023, has provided an unprecedented response that aims to ease the financial pressure on households throughout the State. Government cost-of-living measures included a cost-of-living double payment paid to social protection recipients in October. A €200 lump sum payment was paid to pensioners and people with a disability receiving the living alone increase in November. A €500 cost-of-living payment was paid to people receiving carer's support grant, disability allowance, invalidity pension, blind pension and to those in receipt of working family payment. A €400 additional lump sum payment was paid to all households in receipt of the fuel allowance payment and a double month of child benefit was paid. In December, a Christmas bonus double payment was paid to 1.3 million social protection recipients. From January 2023, the maximum rate of core social welfare rates was increased and there were also increases to the qualified adult and qualified child rates. The enhanced electricity credit of €600 is another important Government measure to help mitigate the effects of the recent unprecedented rise in electricity prices.

Many of those in receipt of the household benefits package will also have benefited from these supports, which must be looked at in the round. All further measures, including any proposal to increase the electricity allowance as part of the household benefits package would only be considered while taking account of overall Government policy and budgetary considerations.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. This still does not account for the fact that this package has not been increased since 2013. There has been no increase for people even though we are experiencing hyperinflation. This is not lost on the public but I thank the Minister of State. As I said, this proposal from Age Action Ireland for an energy guarantee for older persons is very well put together and I advise him in the strongest possible terms to review it with a view to implementing it.

Another group I spoke to about this issue was the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Clare. It mentioned that it wanted to see the introduction of a choice between the cash payment or the units offered to people. This is a common-sense approach and allows for people to decide what works best for them and for their circumstances. We know that the one-size-fits-all approach is not working. If people want the cash payment for bargaining power, or if they would rather keep the units offered and for it to go directly to the provider, so be it.

Another consideration I would like to raise with the Minister of State are the standing charges as part of the energy allowances in the household benefits package. As I said, the payment has not gone up in ten years and the people in receipt of it are roughly 30% worse off than they were ten years ago. What has gone up in that intervening time, however, are the standing charges which all of these providers have been charging their customers. The current household benefits package simply does not accommodate some of the eye-watering standing charges being imposed on customers by their providers and if the Minister of State does nothing else on foot of this Topical Issue matter, I encourage him to close that gap by any means possible.

We all know from the household bills how inflated the standing and hidden charges have become, but in rural Ireland we are paying an average of €35 more in standing charges to the ESB in the year than our counterparts in more urban areas. When rural Ireland says it is forgotten about or when the Dáil does not see beyond the M50, eyes can no longer roll. One can understand that sentiment when one can see clearly that those in receipt of this package are worse off than they were ten years ago. However, that is exacerbated further by the very fact of living in a rural area.

The other thing that will help in that direction is that the market itself is changing. A large number of the international manufacturers in Europe and beyond are starting to provide options that are cheaper, lighter and more compact. I believe there is a real market for that.

Many people say they cannot switch to electric vehicles because of the cost issue. That will start to be resolved as many those smaller, more affordable and more sustainable vehicles come on the market. That will also help us in terms of whatever support measures we put in place. We will know there is a lighter, cheaper alternative, which is what we want to promote.