MORE THAN 400 households will receive flood relief cheques from the Irish Red Cross this week thanks to €1.4 million donated to the organisation’s Flood Disasters Appeal since last November.
The humanitarian aid will assist many of the worst-hit residential property owners.
Of the applications, 29% came from Galway and 24% from Cork, reflecting some of the areas badly affected.
Of the others, 13% were from Westmeath, 7% from Tipperary, 5% from Clare, 4% from Kildare, 2% from Roscommon and 2% from Limerick.
A smaller number of applications, amounting to 14%, came from counties Carlow, Cavan, Dublin, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly and Wicklow.
Tony Lawlor, acting chairman of Irish Red Cross, said a majority of applications for humanitarian assistance were received between January 22 and February 5.
"Those who are receiving Red Cross funds this week have gone through the loss of property, trauma and hardship," he said. "And while the funds will provide some comfort, nothing will ever compensate them for that awful experience."
In all, 417 households will receive an average of €3,000, with all payments assessed on a damage and hardship scale from grades one to five – from minimal to severe hardship.
The Red Cross has been accepting applications to its Flood Relief Fund since the end of December. The closing date for applications was extended from January 22 until February 5.
Since then, assessors commissioned by the Red Cross have met with each of the applicants, visited people in their homes, and calculated the appropriate amount to be allocated.
Mr Lawlor said the charity was anxious to allocate the funds donated by the people of Ireland as quickly as possible. "However, we were advised many of the householders needed time to assess the damage, establish what claims they could make to insurance companies and local authorities before submitting an application to the Irish Red Cross.
"To facilitate these people we set the deadline for applications for the January.
"We were then asked to extend that for a further two weeks until the February 5 and a high percentage of all applications were received during that period."
* www.redcross.ie.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, March 04, 2010
