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.