Emergency funding of €6.5m still unpaid for flood relief

Environment Minister Alan Kelly’s department has failed to pay almost €6.5m in emergency funding to local authorities for repairs and the clean-up of flood-hit areas.

Many farmers are also still waiting on emergency funding from the Department of Agriculture. Cork City, Kilkenny, and Meath councils have not yet received any funds from the Department of Environment three months after Storm Desmond hit. While €14.48m has been requested by local authorities to fund the necessary and immediate works, €7.9m of this has yet to be paid.

In early January, the Government announced a package of measures to provide immediate support and to set-up more co-ordinated systems to deal with flooding. This included providing €18m to councils through the local authority clean-up fund and establishing two separate schemes for farmers who were badly hit by flooding.