Cabinet to discuss flood aid package following Storm Desmond

The Taoiseach and his cabinet are to discuss emergency funding for flood-ravaged areas at a meeting this morning.

Extending his sympathies to shops, businesses, and homes flooded over the weekend, Enda Kenny said the Government will today decide on how best to help.

“The Cabinet will discuss in the morning the question of the possibility of emergency funding to be made available here,” said Mr Kenny.

“We have got a very big job ahead of us per the next decade, and Government have put €1bn into the capital programme to deal with many of these, but for now, I would like to think that some of the independent agencies would be able to work with Government in examining the possibility of how we might deal in a humanitarian sense and business sense with what is a terrible loss to people three weeks before Christmas.

“Speaking to people both in Bandon and Crosmolina, in the latter case this has been the worst flooding in 52 years and clearly we have to see what is the best course of option open to Government and we will discuss that tomorrow morning.”

A meeting of the National Coordination Group was held yesterday to discuss the on-going severe weather and the response by local authorities, Government and other groups.

Chairman Sean Hogan said a number of rivers are “on the edge” and may flood again due to more heavy rain expected this week.

He warned that there is still a high risk of flooding on the lower Shannon from Parteen Weir down to Limerick City. Other areas at risk include Carrick-on-Shannon, Ballinasloe, and Athlone.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who visited Bandon in West Cork yesterday — one of the town’s worst hit by Storm Desmond — confirmed the Government will consider an aid package for businesses who are precluded by legislation from accessing humanitarian flood relief funds.

The minister said he does not want to “over-promise” but hoped a proposal, which may involve the Red Cross, would be discussed at today’s Cabinet meeting.

Local authorities have begun compiling a list of the flood damage in their areas, which is expected to run to millions of euro.

It is expected the document will be ready for discussion by the Cabinet this morning.

Mr Coveney also stressed that the delay in delivering the Bandon flood relief scheme was because of a legal challenge during the tendering process, and not because of a lack of funding.

While the OPW has come under fire over the delays in beginning the flood relief scheme in Bandon, the Skibbereen Flood Relief scheme now face a fresh delay after it emerged that the preferred contractor, Roadbridge, has pulled out, so the tender will have to be reissued.

According to the OPW: “The preferred tenderer has recently notified Cork County Council that it is not extending its tender offer beyond the specified 180-day period. The council has also been advised by its consultants who evaluated the tenders that making the next tender on the list the new preferred tenderer cannot be justified on a value for money or cost/benefit basis. The consultants have therefore recommended that the tender competition be terminated and that the proposed works be re-tendered.”

An OPW spokesperson said it was hoped the issuing of a new tender would not result in any further significant delay in the commencement of the works, still due to start in spring/early summer 2016.

However, former mayor of Cork County Alan Coleman slammed the delay, stating: “This is shambolic and I am disgusted with departmental bureaucracy.”

Cork County Council had sent the details of the recommended tender to the OPW for their approval on June 29 but was later informed that the OPW had to submit the tender to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to further evaluate the Environmental Impact Statement .

Meanwhile, parts of Cork experienced flooding last night after the ESB began releasing water from the Inniscarra Dam due to the huge amount of rainfall over the weekend.

The Lee Road was flooded and became impassable, while agricultural land at Inniscarra and the Lee Fields also experienced flooding. Flood-prone homeowners in Iniscarra were also on high alert and deployed flood barriers.