Vol. 558 No. 1
193 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if all residents on Richmond Road, Dublin 3, will get the maximum support, financial assistance and guidance following their recent flooding crisis; if they will get maximum compensation; and if plans will be put in place to prevent future flooding. [23275/02]
The Government has approved a scheme of humanitarian assistance to relieve hardship arising from flooding of people's homes as a result of severe rainfall on 9 and 10 November and 14 and 15 November last. The scheme is designed to provide humanitarian assistance to those who suffered hardship in localised flooding in several areas of the country, including Dublin. The Irish Red Cross Society, IRCS, will administer the scheme which is currently being advertised in the national newspapers and on national and local radio.
Application forms will be available by ringing the free phone number provided or can be obtained from the Irish Red Cross Society's website. The closing date for receipt of applications is Friday, 6 December 2002. The scheme will be administered on a confidential basis by the IRCS and it should be emphasised that the scheme is designed to provide humanitarian assistance to relieve hardship arising from damage to people's homes and not compensation for losses.
The Tolka River catchment falls within the functional area of three local authorities, Meath and Fingal County Councils and Dublin City Council. In June 2001, Dublin City Council commissioned the greater Dublin strategic drainage study or GDSDS which is a multi-million euro engineering study of the strategic drainage requirements of the greater Dublin area. Given the history of flooding in the Tolka and on the initiative of Office of Public Works, the city council agreed to include a study of the Tolka in the GDSDS. The flooding element of the study is funded by Office of Public Works at a cost of €870,000 and is expected to be completed in May 2003.
The aim of the study is that a comprehensive report will be produced that will include the development of a robust model representing the relevant characteristics of the River Tolka catchment. Such a model will have the ability to map flood risk. Using model output, the technical and economic merit of various options for flood management, taking account of current and future land developments, will be presented within the report. It is not possible, at this stage, to indicate what the findings of the study will be or what flood alleviation measures can be recommended. However, the consultants have been requested to produce an interim report setting out what immediate steps can be taken to alleviate flooding in the areas worst affected. This report will be available within the next few days.
