Funding to be freed up for flood victims

Money will be available to the Red Cross to provide financial assistance to the victims of flooding in Cork, the environment minister has signalled.

“The Red Cross will be getting additional funds, I expect, from the ministers of finance and public expenditure to help people on a humanitarian basis,” Phil Hogan said yesterday.

However, he said the Government would have to wait on a comprehensive report on the flooding before it could decide on the allocation of funding.

He gave no indication of how much funding would be provided, or what kind of payments qualifying households might receive.

Mr Hogan was responding to questions from Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer and Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath, both of whom represent Cork South Central.

Mr Buttimer called for a “full and honest explanation” of the events which led to the flooding. In particular, he asked if a new culvert installed in Douglas last year had worked.

Mr Buttimer called on the Government to ensure insurance companies met their obligations to homeowners and to small businesses.

“Too often, insurance companies are less than co-operative, failing to promptly deal with claims and pay out money which is rightly due. The insurance industry needs to be brought to task to ensure it looks after their customers in their hour of need.”

Mr McGrath said that when similar flooding had occurred in Dublin last year, a €10m humanitarian assistance fund had been put in place, and he called on the Government to do likewise for Cork.

In response, Mr Hogan said he would have the culvert investigated, and that decisions on funding would be made once the Government got a comprehensive report on the flooding.

“I’ve heard carefully what Deputies Buttimer and McGrath have said in relation to the culvert in Douglas, and I’ll have it investigated and included as part of the report I’ve asked [for] from Cork City Council and Cork County Council,” said Mr Hogan.

“The Department of Social Protection is actively involved in assisting those families and individuals affected by the flooding under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.”