Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Brady is correct. There should not be an inconsistency between Bray and Ratoath. I will come back to Deputy Brady on that one.

On the automatic payment, I do not know how we would have an automatic payment because we have a system that pays a person, either on a weekly basis or in two lump sums. It is an IT system. The IT system only gets changed quarterly which is why - I do not know whether the Deputy recalls - the debacle last year was that when we decided to make the payment everybody said that we only made it because we were shamed into making it. The only reason that we had to delay the payment announcement was because we did not know whether we could interfere with the IT system to the hundreds of thousands of people who get fuel allowance. People will dismiss that and say I am full of talk. However, it is an IT system and it does not get interfered with, and I do not know how we would make an automatic payment for an unforeseen event. I do not know how one would know that we will get snow in February. All I know is that if people need help, that is what we are here for.