My early intervention was procedural and I did not get an opportunity to make any comments. On the Order of Business, I put it to the Taoiseach that the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has called on all older people to stock up on fuel and leave the heating on 24 hours a day during the cold spell we expect in the next few days. That is pragmatic advice. During the flooding, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection was asked to look at exceptional payments to help with issues arising from flood damage. This is of a different scale and different type but a number of people may be vulnerable, particularly older people and other people who may be on assistance payments and who may not be in a position to have heating on 24 hours a day. I ask that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, through the local community welfare officers, would take a flexible approach to assisting people to fulfil the Minister of State's laudable objective in having full 24-hour cover. Also, as was said earlier, all local authority schemes need to ensure that the heating systems are changed to ensure it is on for the full 24 hours.

I accept the Deputy's criticisms. Perhaps I should have given more substance on the actions the Government is taking at this time as we prepare for the bad weather. An orange-level weather warning is in place from 3 o'clock today until 11 o'clock tomorrow for County Dublin, the counties surrounding Dublin, and Laois and Carlow. We expect accumulations of 4 cm to 6 cm by Wednesday morning.

We have already agreed to extend the fuel allowance by an additional week into April. That was decided at budget time. For older people-----

That is not good enough.

How will they pay for it this week?

Please, Deputies.

For older people, who at this time may struggle to pay fuel bills there are two options available: the exceptional needs payment, which is means-tested, and the urgent needs payment which is not.

Rubbish. That is a cop-out.

We cannot promise an open-ended payment, obviously.

What does the Taoiseach mean when he says it will not be open ended?

It would be preferable if people applied in advance. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will be flexible-----

Keep in touch with the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly.

-----in dealing with payment requests from others thereafter. I should also add that an additional 104 one-night-only beds will remain open on a 24 hour basis in the Dublin region for those who are sleeping rough. An additional location has been found to provide a further 60 beds if they are needed and two Housing First outreach teams will be working on the streets to encourage rough sleepers to come in. The Defence Forces are on standby. Some 120,000 tonnes of salt are available. The Department of Education and Skills is monitoring the situation regarding school closures.