There was only one proposal put to the Taoiseach yesterday in respect of the cold weather and our elderly and vulnerable citizens, which is that the Government would pay a double week of the fuel allowance. Nobody on this side of the House gave advice to the elderly to leave heating on 24-7. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, when he said that I took it that he meant it as a reassurance or an encouragement to older people to keep themselves warm. The Taoiseach is being a little disingenuous and unfair to the Minister of State in suggesting that it was a concrete proposal to have heating on 24-7. The public heard it in a different way. In any case, I am glad the Taoiseach has agreed to that measure, that measure being the double fuel allowance not the heating on 24-7. Can he clarify-----

Has the Deputy any spare fuel herself?

The Deputy is absolutely hilarious. I am sure people who are cold in their homes are only rolling around laughing at him. He really is a comic.

You can have the comedy afterwards. We will have a question and answer now.

Can the Taoiseach confirm the date of the payment of the double week? That was not clear from the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty's, announcement. Is it 12 March? Will the recipients who receive the allowance in two lump sums also be included in the payment?

The reason there is no clear date of payment is that this is not a stand-alone payment. People do not receive it in isolation. It is a top-up payment for a number of schemes. People in different schemes receive their payments on different dates. Some scheme payments to be paid next week have already gone through the banking system and the Department's IT system so those people will not get their payment until probably the week after. However, everybody will get a double week payment assigned to this week, but they will get it either next week or the week after depending on the day on which they receive their scheme payment. The disability payments might be paid on a Tuesday and jobseeker's allowance might be paid on a Wednesday so there is no one date on which everybody will receive their payment, but everybody will receive a double week fuel payment in the coming week or two weeks. That includes people who have chosen to take their payment in two lump sums, but they will get an individual extra week.