Conflicting signals on cold snap not helpful

ANTHROPOLOGIST Franz Boas travelling through the frozen wastes of northern Canada famously marvelled at the dozens of words Eskimos had for snow in the 1880s. They included: “aqilokoq” for “softly falling snow” and “piegnartoq” for “the snow that packed tightly”. In Ireland we get by with just one word for the falling frozen water, which is best translated as ‘chaos’.

The cold breath of the ‘Beast from the East’ had scarcely touched our shores when up steps Minister of State for Older People Jim Daly to claim that: “Pensioners who live at home should keep the heat going for 24 hours. They should feel free to use that extra bucket of coal or bale of briquettes.”

Mr Daly had barely issued his statement when the Taoiseach was up on his feet in the Dáil to say: “That is not the advice of the Government.”

Speaking on RTÉ, Mr Daly had said that older people should avail of social welfare schemes to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure. But Leo Varadkar said: “Minister Daly’s advice is not the advice of Government. There is no way that anyone in this house can guarantee turning on your heat 24/7 will not cost more.” He added doubling the payment might not solve the problem.

With the Army on standby and the National Emergency Co-ordination Group assembling daily to gauge the dangers, such conflicting signals from the Government are less than reassuring. The Government stayed up around the clock to make sure that the assets of our banks were not frozen before the crash; the elderly people of this country might expect at least a similar degree of concern.

The fact many will rightly wonder whether to buy an extra bale of briquettes or use both bars of the electric fire ought to keep people awake at night in a country that could spend €64bn on banks.