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.