Pensioners are being left in cold, FG claim

MORE than 200,000 pensioners will not be paid State fuel allowances this winter, new figures collated by Fine Gael show.

The party’s social affairs spokesman David Stanton claimed only 16,000 of the country’s 225,458 contributory pensioners were eligible for the allowance, because of overly strict qualifying criteria.

The Cork East TD said Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan should immediately ease the criteria to allow more elderly people receive the payment, given that fuel costs were at an all-time high.