Fury over ‘meagre’ flooding relief package

THE €10 million humanitarian flood relief package unveiled by the Government was under attack last night for being too meagre.

The backlash came after it took intense parliamentary pressure from Fine Gael and Labour for Taoiseach Brian Cowen to agree to a full emergency Dáil debate on the devastation which has swept through the south and west of the country in the past week.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore warned the scale of the humanitarian help being offered to flood victims did not go far enough as he demanded the Government needed to “take charge” of clean-up operation after local authorities had coped well with the initial impact of the crisis.