Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 2

Written Answers. - Flood Relief.

Ned O'Keeffe

Ceist:

320 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the final amount of emergency funding allocated by him to those who suffered material damage as a consequence of the flooding of November 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26608/01]

Ned O'Keeffe

Ceist:

321 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the criteria applied by his Department in allocating emergency funding to those who suffered material damage as a consequence of the flooding of November 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26609/01]

Ned O'Keeffe

Ceist:

323 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the amount of emergency funding which has been allocated by him in respect of a number of areas (details supplied) in County Cork as a consequence of the flooding of November 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26611/01]

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Cullen):

I propose to take Questions

Nos. 320, 321 and 323 together.

The Government recognised the unusual and serious nature of the extreme weather conditions of November 2000 and moved quickly to approve a humanitarian aid scheme to assist those most severely affected by flooding.

Because of the nature and extent of the damage caused and the lack of consolidated information, the Irish Red Cross was given the task of assessing the levels of hardship and the extent of funding required to bring relief to the victims of hardship. The Irish Red Cross Society has considerable professional experience in dealing compassionately, impartially and effectively with the disbursement of such humanitarian funds. The final amount assessed and recommended for the scheme was £2.75 million.

A special bank account was set up by the Irish Red Cross to receive and disburse the Government humanitarian aid. The Department of Finance and the Office of Public Works, were not involved in the determination of the levels of humanitarian aid to victims of flooding. Administration of the scheme was the sole responsibility of the Irish Red Cross.

It was clearly indicated that humanitarian aid allocated by the Irish Government through the flood relief scheme was granted as a gesture to those affected by the flooding between 5 and 7 November 2000 and was not intended as compensation.

In total, 447 applications for humanitarian aid were received and processed and a total of £2.75 million was disbursed by the Government. All applications were dealt with on a strictly confidential basis in accordance with the Red Cross fundamental principle of impartiality and its experience in disaster relief both nationally and internationally. A special task force consisting of both assessment and administrative personnel was set up within the Red Cross to operate the scheme in order to get aid to those in need as speedily as possible. Those affected by flooding could claim eligibility for humanitarian aid under the following headings: (a) death, (b) serious injury, (c) homelessness, (d) damage to home, (e) loss of income and (f) extreme hardship. The majority of the humanitarian aid was disbursed in relation to damage to home and substantial portions due to homelessness and loss of income. However, in most cases humanitarian aid was allocated with reference to a plurality of criteria.

Administration of the scheme was successful in that applicants received their allocations within eight weeks of submitting applications, a timeframe which included the two holiday periods of Christmas and new year. All applicants acknowledged receipt of cheques.

Applications were received from 17 counties, across all four provinces, with the majority from the southern, south-eastern and eastern regions. The largest number came from County Tipperary, largely reflecting the high number of people living in Clonmel who sought Red Cross aid. A significant number of claims were also received from the Enniscorthy area of County Wexford and the Arklow, Avoca and Aughrim areas of County Wicklow. The percentage breakdown of applications per count was as follows: Tipperary, 30.5%; Wexford, 19.2%; Dublin-Westmeath, 12.6%; Wicklow, 12.3%; Cork,

9.6%; Kilkenny-Carlow, 8.3%; other, 7.5%.

As the humanitarian aid scheme was administered on a strictly confidential basis between the Red Cross Society and individual applicants it was decided not to publish the breakdown of the disbursements on a smaller geographical area than county as it was considered that to have done so could have led to identification of individual applicants. In the circumstances, I trust that the Deputy will appreciate that I am unable to supply the information requested by him in relation to specific areas within County Cork.

Ned O'Keeffe

Ceist:

322 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the measures he has put in place to protect the property of individuals and commercial premises which are classified by insurers as high risk due to the inevitability of flooding in their areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26610/01]

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Cullen):

The Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act, 1995, gave the Commissioners of Public Works powers to undertake drainage schemes to alleviate localised flooding.

Since the passing of the 1995 Act seven flood relief schemes have been completed at the following locations: the Mulkear river, Newport, County Tipperary; Nanny river, Duleek, County Meath; Sixmilebridge, County Clare; Gort town, Bridge Street, County Galway; Lacken (Ardrahan), County Galway; Mulkear river, Cappamore, County Limerick and Maam Valley, County Galway.

In addition, four other flood relief schemes are currently at construction stage as follows: Bandon river, Dunmanway, County Cork; Suir river, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; Nore river, Kilkenny city and Hazelhatch, County Kildare.

A number of other schemes are at various stages in the feasibility study or design process: Suir river, Clonmel; Barrow river, Carlow town; John's river, Waterford; Ennis, County Clare; Cregaclare and other locations in south Galway; Mallow and Fermoy, County Cork; Enniscorthy, County Wexford; Tolka river, counties Dublin and Meath.

The Office of Public Works is also funding schemes where the works are being carried out by the local authority: Freemount, County Cork; Drumcollogher, County Limerick; Bridgend, County Donegal; Scotch Quay, Waterford city; Kinvara, County Galway and Belhavel, County Leitrim.

Following the severe rainfall and consequential flooding in November 2000, additional demands for assistance have been received and the Office of Public Works is in accordance with many other local authorities about feasibility studies and schemes which the authorities wish to carry out.

A further important initiative which the Office of Public Works has currently under way is the proposed development of a flood mapping programme. The objective of this programme is to develop, and make publicly available, maps and reports accurately detailing areas of land in Ireland which have been subject to flooding. The implementation of the programme will have wide-ranging benefits, providing relevant and important information to assist with the following areas: (a) sustainable land-use zoning for strategic development plans, including route selection for national and regional infrastructure; (b) appropriate development control, including the review of individual planning applications; (c) identification of needs for flood mitigation measures, and (d) planning and management of flood warning and response. This formidable and complex programme which will take several years to complete will include the development of an Internet-accessible GIS-database system and extensive data collection and detailed mapping.

Question No. 323 answered with Question No. 320