I raise the issue of inpatient beds for mental health services, in particular, for people who are suffering from anorexia nervosa. We have learned by way of the reply to a parliamentary question tabled by the leader of the Fianna Fáil Party, Deputy Micheál Martin, that the State provides a mere three specialist beds at St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, for adults with this condition and that there are no dedicated child and mental health services, CAMHS, beds for those with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is a disease with a shockingly high mortality rate of 20%. Families throughout the country are crying out for inpatient beds for their children and young adults. I brought a case to the attention of the Minister and provided him with a myriad of general practitioner reports recommending urgent inpatient treatment for the individual in question, but, to date, treatment has not been made available. While the individual in question has spent a number of periods in St. James's Hospital receiving acute treatment, this does not address the underlying issue or provide a long-term remedy in treating the illness.

Over the weekend we saw great work being done by the emergency services. Many doctors also did stellar work on the ground on some of the coldest nights to ensure homeless persons were brought in from the cold. I noted two specific cases involving homeless persons being committed to hospital. Although I struggle with the concept of committal, I accept and understand doctors on the ground acted professionally and responsibly. Through their hard work, for which I commend them, two people did not remain outside in the cold overnight when they might have died. If inpatient beds can be provided in such circumstances, it must be possible to provide inpatient beds for persons with anorexia nervosa whose families are crying out for beds for them. Unfortunately, the disease primarily affects women. I have copies of multiple reports from a general practitioner which support the case for providing an inpatient bed for the individual in question, yet none has been made available.

I congratulate the emergency services - members of An Garda Síochána, the fire service, the ambulance service and the Irish Red Cross - as well as staff in the homeless agencies, farmers, local authority staff who cleared roads, the ESB, gas services and the many groups which came up trumps for us during the storm over the weekend. I also welcome the decision of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, to double the fuel allowance paid last week. Fuel poverty is among the toughest hardships experienced by people on the margins. On my walkabouts I am constantly greeted by people at their door, especially on cold winter nights, who are wrapped up in layers of clothing and wearing gloves. Many are ready to go to bed at 6 p.m. because they do not want to waste money on fuel for the evening. Sadly, this sight is all too common. While Members take a warm house for granted, many others do not. The increase in the fuel allowance was welcome, but we must do more to eradicate fuel poverty and ensure that, rather than worrying about substantial fuel bills, elderly people will be comfortable in their homes in their time of need.

Having watched television and listened to various politicians speak about the emergency weather conditions in recent days, I was surprised to note that few of them, if any, referred to the Defence Forces. I know that members of the Defence Forces are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like many volunteers, they left their families and went outside in difficult conditions.

Indeed I had experience over the period, and I thank the Department of Defence and its Minister of State, of a family which was facing a bereavement. The military stood up, collected members of that family and brought them to their dying mother. They are to be commended on that. I wish we would remember every now and then that the men in uniform are there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They do a damn good job and need to be respected for it.

I want to bring two issues to the attention of the Leader. The first is that I would like to have a debate in the House on bullying in the workplace. It is a serious issue. It is known that I have an interest in this particular area but of late the number of people contacting me on the issue of bullying has been shocking. I wonder why the workplace has become such an unhappy place. I am not sure whether we should be talking to the Minister for Justice and Equality or the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection but we need to have that debate. I will divert to the Leader to choose the correct Minister.

The other issue I wanted to raise relates to an email I received this morning from a young man seeking car insurance. He has a 2006 registered car worth approximately €2,000 and he was quoted €2,600 for an insurance policy on it. I know that the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, did a lot of work on that issue when he was at the Department of Finance. Do we have an update on where it is going? The young people of this country are being ripped off left, right and centre while insurance companies are paying dividends. Last week a dividend of 34 cent on the share was paid to shareholders in FBD Insurance. I think it was 34 cent. It is amazing that FBD can pay dividends to shareholders but cannot provide reasonably priced insurance. The price of insurance for that young man is more than the value of the car. All he wants to do is to be legal on the road. We need to have an update from the Department of Finance on that issue. If the Leader had one, it would be very helpful. I expect him to deal with that in his own time.

Like many others I am glad to be back in Leinster House after the snow last week. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Taoiseach and his team on how Storm Emma was handled last week. It is hard to get every single detail right in these emergency situations but, credit where credit is due, it was handled very well. As many have said, enormous credit must also go to the front-line workers who kept vital services going when conditions were at their worst. It was really inspiring to see doctors and nurses braving the snow to make it into hospitals and to see bus drivers getting people home safely. There was a great sense of community in certain areas. In my own area my neighbours came out and dug my car out at certain points. One does not get to see one's neighbours that often but there was a nice sense of camaraderie. I hope we remember this dedication and community support when people raise their concerns about resources and pay.

One thing that does need to be improved however is communication from Irish Water. We saw increased usage during the storm but it was very late in the day that Irish Water announced supply restrictions from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The notice was incredibly short and communication was not so widespread. Many people were therefore not expecting to wake up this morning with no water. It would be good if the Minister could ensure that Irish Water keeps restrictions as low as possible, that the deadline is stuck to, and that Irish Water communicates better in cases such as this.

Finally, I was a little disappointed that last week's closures meant that the debate on councillors' conditions was postponed. I have been speaking to many councillors, from every corner of the country, in preparation and I want to make sure that their concerns are heard. For when will the debate be rescheduled? It would be great to have an understanding of what is going on.

I want to talk about health. Following the recent emergency I want to thank the health service staff, the health care staff and the emergency services staff who went beyond the call of duty for the last number of days. They should be recognised for minimising the risk to the public during the status red weather alert. It is clear that these professionals in health care and catering, these porters, nurses and midwives, and those working in diagnostics went above and beyond the call of duty.

Many of them camped and slept in hospitals or nearby hotels to ensure care was given. In the case of my local hospital, St. James's Hospital, many residents offered beds to staff who were trying to keep the system going by making arrangements such as shift changes to ensure their colleagues who lived further away would not have to come in, thereby putting themselves at risk. The extreme weather protocol took account of and properly recognised the remuneration of staff who were exposed to danger while working and travelling to work in hazardous conditions. The Taoiseach told people to make sure they were indoors from 4 p.m. on Thursday - this was done because of health and safety factors - but the national shutdown did not, unfortunately, apply to many front-line emergency workers. We need to find a way to recognise and acknowledge the efforts of staff who braved the elements to go to work last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When the group of health unions meets tomorrow to discuss the protocol for adverse weather conditions, perhaps it might find a way to thank those who went to work at serious risk to themselves.

I support the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, in calling for the first two weeks of March to be treated as an emergency period in the public health service. The INMO was extremely concerned about the pressures that were already on the health service but which were brought to bear to a greater extent in the emergency care area during the five-day period of severe weather. It is calling for an emergency period to be declared for three main reasons. First, the extended period of severe weather led to delayed discharges and caused a backlog in patients being scheduled for admission for elective procedures. Second, rosters will have to be rearranged to accommodate the rest periods needed by INMO members and other front-line staff who have worked tirelessly over extended periods. This, in turn, will reduce the number of staff available to provide services in the short term. Third, INMO records show that the trolley count for February 2018 was 19% higher than for February 2017, with almost 11,000 patients waiting on trolleys for inpatient beds, which indicates that hospitals were already overburdened before the adverse weather event and are now bursting at the seams. For these reasons, emergency status must be afforded to the next two weeks. All measures to resource and staff the health service properly must be explored. The assistance of private acute hospital services should also be sought. I welcome the HSE's statement today confirming that it will prioritise vulnerable persons when appointments are being rescheduled. Another difficult issue about which we need to think is the inability of some home helps to access people who were snowed in. What happened was a true meitheal in a very true Irish sense of the word.

I note that Mr. Tony O'Brien has just announced that he will retire from his position as director general of the HSE in the coming months. I wish him well.

I join Senator Máire Devine in wishing Mr. Tony O'Brien well. I have seen his statement that he does not intend to renew his term when it expires in the summer.

I welcome everyone back after the snow. Like other Senators, I commend all those involved in the emergency services, the local authorities, the transport infrastructure agencies, the health service and the ESB. Many people worked long hours in arduous and awful conditions to keep services going. I saw immense community spirit in my own area in the south inner city of Dublin which I know was replicated across the country. It was a time when people pulled together well.

On a positive note, I wish everyone a happy International Women's Week. It is also Seachtain na Gaeilge. We had a great event in the Members' private dining room earlier today. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn spoke as Gaeilge to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge and International Women's Week and as part of the Vótáil 100 commemorations to celebrate the centenary of women's suffrage. She exhorted us all to do more to speak Irish in the Chamber. I will certainly try to take up that challenge in the coming years and I am sure others will do likewise.

The Irish Syria Solidarity Movement held a press conference today, which I attended with Deputy Joan Collins, at which Ibrahim Halawa and others spoke. Eyewitnesses spoke about their experience of the dreadful bombardment of eastern Ghouta by the forces of Bashar al-Assad, his Russian allies and others, the targeting of civilians, the appalling deaths of so many children and civilian casualties. One medic working for Médecins Sans Frontières in eastern Ghouta described it as a catastrophic experience, where people are being denied access to food, medicine and shelter and referred to the immense psychological stress of being under constant bombardment. Rather than having a debate, perhaps we should instead consider a cross-party Seanad motion of the sort we passed on condemning the bombardment of Aleppo. I am happy to work with the Leader and others to try to draft an appropriate motion to bring to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Russian ambassador and others. I will take that up further.

I support the Barnardos lost child campaign. It met with colleagues today about the campaign, which aims to ensure that no child is lost and to ask the Government to take a number of steps to support children through childhood, including ensuring they have somewhere suitable to live, the extension of the ECCE scheme for an additional year and other measures which Barnardos said would cost just under €250 million in a full year. That is not a high price, given the large amount of support it is calling for for children in order to ensure no child is lost in Ireland.

Like others, I commend the work done by different agencies over the weekend. The Defence Forces, the Civil Defence, county council staff, gardaí, fire and ambulance staff, HSE staff, volunteers and county councillors all over the country came out and worked beyond the call of duty. People cleared roads, took calls and in some cases worked 18 hours a day in the same manner as the Defence Forces. On numerous occasions I have asked about the pay and conditions of our Army personnel. I recently called for a debate on the subject with the Minister of State and I hope that would be facilitated in light of the fact that we have had bad weather and the Defence Forces came out and worked. Yet again, they rescued the town of Athlone as they did during previous flooding. I again ask for a debate on the matter. Like Senator Black, I call for the debate on councillors' pay and conditions to be brought forward, bearing in mind that they also worked beyond the call of duty over the weekend.

I also ask that people support local businesses. Family-owned small businesses tried to stay open during the recent bad weather to facilitate locals. Now that we are all back on the roads and are again shopping in large stores I ask people not to forget the small businesses which stayed open and tried to keep the country afloat during the bad weather. I ask that the Leader bring forward the debate on the pay and conditions of councillors and those in the Defence Forces.

The Government learned the lesson of 1982. There was a different response this time because it was a case of making hay while the sun shone. The recent weather was a case of making hay while the snow fell because the Government lost no opportunity to take advantage of the situation to promote itself, which is very good. Well done to the Taoiseach. He would make an excellent weather forecaster.

I would like to commend the staff of Met Éireann, RTÉ, TV3 and local radio who went out in very difficult circumstances to produce reports. Local radio was not available in 1982, but it was a big advantage on this occasion because conditions varied in different parts of the country. Roscommon and other counties were hit very badly. I compliment the emergency services for their response, as well as Roscommon University Hospital, Portiuncula Hospital, the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon, Oakwood Nursing Home and all other nursing homes throughout the country.

The staff made it into those hospitals and nursing homes and provided food and nourishment for all their patients and residents. There was no report of any difficulties in that respect. We should commend all those staff.

Senator Craughwell mentioned our Army. However, nobody mentioned the work done by the prison officers who have to provide cover 365 days a year. The prisons cannot be closed. The full staff complement was required in Castlerea Prison for the duration of the emergency weather event. I met a prison officer who had to make his way to his place of work in that prison and work the hours required to ensure the security of the State. The work done by the prison officers was not mentioned during this period but I am mentioning it now in this House.

I commend the work done by the Army and the Garda-----

And the Naval Service and the Air Corps.

-----and its members' quick response to the looting of the Lidl store in Fortunestown Lane and the Centra store in Jobstown in Dublin which was most regrettable. It involved a very small group who got out of hand but the gardaí took control.

Also, the service provided by the local shops was brilliant. Our local store, Castlecoote Stores, owned by Oscar and Ann Neilan, was open from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. and provided food and sustenance for all its customers in the area. Oscar Neilan also distributed fresh milk all over the region for that period without fear or favour. I also pay tribute to the local publicans who stayed open during the crisis and provided shelter to their neighbours and friends when required.

There might be a conflict of interest there.

Well said.

I was not working myself but I was not unavailable to be in attendance when required. Thanks be to God nobody was killed during the bad weather event and I compliment the action taken by the Government. It took timely action and it certainly prevented damage. Well done to the Cathaoirleach and his colleagues for closing these Houses last Wednesday evening.