Financial aid depends on severity of damage

FINANCIAL aid will be made available for extreme hardship if it is decided the damage done by Thursday night’s floods is severe enough, the Government said last night.

But, in the wake of widespread damage to homes and transport disruption, there have been calls from the insurance industry for a central body to replace a “plethora of agencies with partial responsibility” for flood management.

Minister of State Tom Parlon said officials from the Office of Public Works and local authorities will assess the damage and a decision will then be made in relation to the need for a humanitarian scheme. “Any such scheme will be administered as on previous occasions by the Irish Red Cross Society,” he said.

The Government has earmarked €8.5 million for flood aid this year, but provided just 59,000 for 2003. They have also put aside €20 million for flood relief projects next year.

Twice the amount of rain fell in Dublin in 36 hours up to midday yesterday than in the entire month of November last year, Met Éireann revealed. The worst affected areas were north inner city Dublin, parts of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

Villages in west Dublin county and parts of Meath, particularly close to the Tolka River, were under four feet of water for much of yesterday. In Dunboyne, angry and sometimes tearful home owners blamed rampant rezoning of reclaimed flood plains for the second disaster to hit the village in two years.

One man said some of his neighbours had no insurance as they were refused renewal after the last flood.

In his home village of Mulhuddart, west Dublin, TD Joe Higgins said he had visited a number of flooded areas, including a newly-built estate close to the Tolka. “It’s a disaster for about 20 families. The homes are absolutely ruined,” he said. While today is expected to be brighter and less wet, many areas remained under water and roads closed last night.

The army, gardaí and civil defence were deployed to help people stranded in their homes. Trains, and in particular, bus services, are expected to return to near normal today after two days of disruption. The heavy rain and floods caused chaos at rush hour on Thursday with a number of main roads closed. Roads such as the M2 remained closed until yesterday evening while diversions remained in place in outlying areas.

Many drivers living in the commuter belt around Dublin decided to stay home yesterday while others left work early and there was no repeat of the rush hour madness of Thursday.

Pat Delaney, of the Small Firms Association, complained an estimated 30,000 working days were lost due to employees either being late for work, not turning up or leaving early. Farmers have also been hit by the bad weather. The IFA’s national potato chairman John Sheridan said over 60% of the crop, or 200,000 tonnes, remains in the ground, compared to 20% at the same time last year.