Vol. 575 No. 5
99 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Finance the amount of funding made available in the mid-1990s to give humanitarian and other relief to flood victims in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28669/03]
A humanitarian aid scheme was implemented in 1995, following a Government decision, to bring some measure of relief to those who had suffered severe hardship as a result of serious flooding. County Galway was among many areas throughout the country that suffered flood damage at that time. The humanitarian aid scheme implemented was open to applicants from all parts of the country. The scheme was implemented on an ex gratia basis and provided humanitarian assistance, not compensation for losses. The scheme was administered on an impartial and confidential basis by the Irish Red Cross on behalf of the Office of Public Works. The amount of aid allocated for the 1995 scheme was €1,457,659. Of this amount, approximately €656,000 was paid out to flood victims in County Galway.
In addition to the humanitarian aid scheme, the Government also approved a home relocation scheme which was set up as a once-off measure in 1996 to assist persons and families in south Galway and parts of County Clare whose houses had been particularly badly affected by the flooding in 1995 to relocate their home. In these extreme cases the houses had been damaged beyond the reasonable costs of repair or had suffered long-term flooding of a minimum of three weeks. The Government provided a total sum of €1,054,000 for this scheme and the fund was disbursed by the Office of Public Works. Out of this fund, approximately €927,199 was in respect of the relocation of County Galway flood victims.
