I move amendment No. 5:
In page 5, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:
"4. —The Commissioners of Public Works and/or the Minister for Finance acting on behalf of the Government of Ireland, may—
(a) vary the offers made to any persons, bodies, or companies whose properties deserve special consideration in exceptional circumstances;
(b) allow only pro-rata insurance compensation allowances against any offers being made by the State to any person, bodies, companies or otherwise;
(c) waive all or any taxes, fees, etc., of any type, or part thereof, which would be payable by any person, body, company or otherwise, in any subsequent transaction, in either the restoration or replacement of an existing property, or in the acquisition of a new or other property, deemed necessary as a result of any disaster;
(d) allow any person, body, company or otherwise to salvage parts, pieces, sections or otherwise, of any property affected by any type of disaster and remove same, including personal belongings, etc.;
(e) allow all of these personal removals, free from inclusion or absolute deduction, from any subsequent financial entitlements under any compensation scheme;
(f) allow any compensation payable to any person or body, company or otherwise, to be inclusive of all or part of any other similar public grant for the acquisition or development of a similar property, in any compensation being paid by the State, or any of its Agencies, or Departments."
I am making a special appeal to the Minister to consider this amendment. I stated on Committee Stage that there are advantages and disadvantages for people in whatever law is proposed. No matter how a situation is judged, there will always be exceptions. For one reason or another some people will not qualify for or gain from what is proposed to the same extent as others.
There are exceptions involving flooding victims in my county and I am sure this is the position elsewhere. In certain cases people, who are still young and raising families, used their life savings to build beautiful homes. They now find themselves out of work and their homes face a constant threat of flooding. If they are compensated as proposed, they will not be able to replace their houses. I ask the Minister to accept the amendment which will give him the power to vary offers. He can take account of the information available to him and the visual aspect of the situation where it is obvious that the value of the house prior to the flooding was much greater.
Many people have been put out of business as a result of flooding, but the Bill does not propose to compensate them or assist them to set up new businesses or restart operations. It is vital the Minister has flexibility under law to consider this aspect and make offers to people to ensure their rights as self-employed people in traditional businesses are protected and retained. We have a duty to ensure people are assisted to remain in business and are not driven from the area. It would be a disaster for the west and many other parts of the country if that happened. I appeal to the Minister in that regard.
Where insurance companies have compensated people at the rate of a percentage of £40,000 and the Minister proposes to compensate them at the rate of a percentage of £60,000 and subtract deductions from that amount, the percentage deduction should be equal to the percentage of the £40,000 they received in compensation on the insurance claim. In other words, the deduction would be pro rata and would not place an unfair burden on people. If the total deduction from a greater figure is taken into account, people will have less money to replace their homes and ensure they can secure the best option away from future flooding.
I also ask the Minister to take into account that people may have already paid stamp duty for previous purchases in addition to Land Registry fees. The amendment seeks to ensure the Minister has the right, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners, to either waive all or part of fees and so on in view of the fact that people, as a result of flooding, will have to pay fees and taxes which they would not otherwise have to pay. The amendment also seeks to ensure people will not be penalised for salvaging personal belongings and other items of value to them. In terms of demolition, it would be of assistance to the State if these people were allowed to remove anything which is useful and personal without being penalised for doing so. People who are forced to build a new house because of flooding are ineligible for a new house grant or any other type of subsidy. The Minister should take that into account in his overall package of compensation and provide an allowance or a percentage of any offer being made.
This is a composite amendment which gives the Minister the flexibility to take everything into account in making a fair and humane decision and ensuring that the victims of flooding receive some compensation, not only for their personal losses but also for the terrible trauma they have suffered over the past year and a half.