Aid for flood victims - Setting the bar too high

THE Government’s announcement last week of a €10 million humanitarian aid package for victims of the recent flooding in Leinster was to be welcomed.

But the feelgood factor generated by a government managing to find cash for suffering citizens at a time when the cupboard is almost bare is seriously diminished by the revelation that the last time such a package was announced, it came with conditions so rigid as to make it about as useful as a life buoy on a six-inch rope.

That only €1.6m of the €10m offered following the shocking floods that devastated many parts of Cork and other counties in November 2009 actually went to those in need reeks of disingenuousness.

It’s not that the needs were less than anticipated. It’s that the hoops through which applicants for assistance needed to jump were too high. The charities who have been trying to mop up the ongoing mess testify to that.

There is of course a need to ensure that any aid package is made watertight against abuse, but to take families whose homes have been flooded and swamp them further in red tape is anything but humanitarian.