The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, was on the airwaves today, encouraging elderly people not to skimp on their heating. He rightly said that shivering behind a single bar electric heater would be penny wise and pound foolish. However, the difficulty is that when one moves beyond the rhetoric, the Government is not prepared to stand up that advice with anything substantive. We know that in January, the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, committed to a review of the fuel allowance scheme. I presume that is under way. There is no point in telling people who are cold simply to run their heating 24-7 during the cold spell and not to worry about how they will pay for it. They simply will not do that. There is no point in telling them they might get reimbursed through discretionary schemes, as the Taoiseach has just suggested. The Government needs to commit to a double week of fuel allowance now.

Hear, hear.

That should not be beyond the Government's wit. Let us face it, when the chips are down for the bankers, the big guys and the big rollers, this House can sit all night if it needs to-----

Time is up.

-----to ensure they are bailed out. In very cold weather, elderly people in particular and people on low incomes do not need a pep talk or a team talk from the Taoiseach, they need action.

I thank the Deputy.

With all due respect, I suggest that the Government acts with urgency and provides a double week of fuel allowance.

The Taoiseach's exhortations and words of encouragement would then actually mean something.

The fuel allowance is being paid to 338,000 households to a value of €200 million. We have already made two changes to the scheme. This year, for the first time, people can be paid a lump sum. There is a total lump sum of €607.50 which can be paid in two payments as opposed to a weekly allowance. As I mentioned, we had already taken the decision to extend the fuel season by another week through to the first week of April. Two options are available to those who have high fuel bills and may struggle to pay them in the coming days.

Really.

The first is the exceptional needs payment which is means-tested. The second is the urgent needs payment which is not means-tested and is open to everyone. No Government can offer a blank cheque to everyone-----

It is €6 million. That is not a blank cheque.

It is not a blank cheque.

It is not a blank cheque. It protects people.

However, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will deal with cases sensitively.

I was going to ask the Taoiseach a different question, but this one is much more urgent. What elderly people, in particular, need from the Government and this House is absolute clarity. A Minister of State saying to keep the heating on 24-7 during the crisis is clear enough but no elderly person I know who is living on a pension will take that advice unless he or she is sure he or she can pay the bill. Unlike previous generations, the elderly are very careful with their money. They will not make the decision to keep the heating on unless there is clarity. We are going to come back to crises where people will deprive themselves of essential heat unless a very clear instruction is given today to provide a payment for an additional week - that is all - for everybody in receipt of the free fuel allowance in order that there can be no doubt or ambiguity about his or her ability to afford to stay warm during this unprecedented crisis. I ask the Taoiseach not to talk about the exceptional needs payment with which we have all dealt for years. It is cumbersome and difficult. Please do not talk about a discretionary payment because it depends on the community welfare officer with whom one is dealing. We have all dealt with various community welfare officers. I ask for clarity. Will the Taoiseach simply say to people that they should keep the heating on if they need to stay warm and that the Government will provide an additional week's payment?

It is very difficult to answer questions in this House when they often include all of the answers I am not allowed to give. It is absurd when one is told the answers one can or cannot give.

What does that mean?

It is simple.

What is the Taoiseach not allowed to do?

Deputy Leo Varadkar is the Taoiseach.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly's, advice is not that of the Government.

It is not the advice of the Government?

What is the advice?

Turn the heating off.

Is the advice to turn the heating off?

The fuel allowance is €22.50 a week. There is no way that anyone in this House or I can guarantee that turning on the heating 24/7 might not cost more than €22.50 a week. Simply doubling the fuel allowance for a particular week may not solve the problem.

It would be a good surety.

It would go some of the way.

I have outlined what is being done.

It is just a cop-out.

What state does the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, inhabit? Where is he? Is he in limbo?

Given that the Taoiseach spends so much money on spin, I wonder if he could get a few bob to learn how to answer the question. Will he, please, give us a guarantee that no old person will die or get very ill because of the cold snap? We need an answer to the question of whether he will guarantee that they will receive extra fuel allowance payments. Will there be an instruction to community welfare officers not to obfuscate, examine or fooster around with people's lives but to pay them the fuel allowance for an extra week? I ask for such a guarantee. It is welcome that everybody here is asking the Taoiseach for the same answer. We need guarantees that the most vulnerable can keep the heating on during the cold snap, including an instruction to local authorities and the voluntary housing sector to keep the heating on for tenants.

I remind the Deputy that she is still proposing to spend €12 million in holding a referendum on water that is now highly unnecessary; therefore, I will not be preached to by anyone on the left about wasting money.

The Taoiseach is spending money to protect the Apple tax from being taken back.

I think I have answered the question about the fuel allowance.