Varadkar: No blank cheque for heating

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has sharply rebuked one of his ministers who advised people to keep their heating on 24 hours a day during the cold weather, saying that it is “not the advice of Government”.

For the second time in a month, Cork South West TD and junior minister for the elderly, Jim Daly, has found himself being contradicted by the Taoiseach, who distanced himself from his comments in the Dáil yesterday.

Mr Varadkar told opposition TDs that Mr Daly’s advice to the elderly was to keep their heating on 24/7 during the cold weather is “not the advice of Government”.

He was responding as opposition leaders called for a double payment of the weekly fuel allowance to be offered to social welfare recipients to deal with the forecasted freezing weather conditions.

Mr Varadkar said the Government can not offer a “blank cheque” to pick up the full fuel bill: “Bear in mind the fuel allowance is €22.50 a week. There is no way I can guarantee that doubling the fuel allowance will pay for the fuel bill.”

Mr Daly had said he wants to ensure that no older person goes without an extra bag of coal or an extra bale of briquettes “because of cost”.

Mr Varadkar said the Government had decided in the budget to extend the fuel allowance a week into April.

However, the Taoiseach later told the Dáil that the Government might consider bringing forward that extra week’s payment. This was following comments from Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty who said 1,500 to 2,000 people die from weather-related effects annually.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said that no elderly person is going to keep the heating on unless they know they could pay for it: “There’s no point telling people to run their heating for 24 hours and not to worry about how to pay it.”

Last month, Mr Varadkar distanced himself and the Government from comments Mr Daly made about linking the public service card to internet usage as a means of verifying the age of users.

“I reassure the deputy that the Government has no plans to link the public services card to internet usage which I would agree would be a restriction on privacy and people’s freedom,” said Mr Varadkar.