Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
377. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform how much of the EU Solidarity Fund is available to Ireland and how much has been drawn down to date by the State; how much has been distributed to victims of flooding to date; and how much of this fund has been drawn down in total by other countries [48451/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe EU Solidarity Fund was established by the European Union to respond to major natural disasters within the Union and to express Union solidarity with disaster-stricken regions within Europe. For the purposes of the Fund, a major natural disaster is defined as one that results in damage in a Member State estimated either at over €3bn or more than 0.6% of GNI.
For major natural disasters, a progressive system in two steps is applied whereby a country affected by a major disaster receives a lower rate of aid of 2.5 % of total direct damage for the part of damage below the threshold and a higher share of aid of 6 % for the part of the damage exceeding the threshold.
An application may also be when the damage is below this national threshold. For these circumstances to apply a region must have suffered a natural disaster. The relevant EU Regulation sets out that a ‘regional natural disaster’ means any natural disaster resulting, in a region at NUTS level 2 of an eligible State, in direct damage in excess of 1.5 % of that region’s gross domestic product (GDP). Assistance from the Fund in these cases is at the rate of 2.5% of total direct damage.
To date, Ireland has drawn down €56.8m from the EUSF, €43.8m in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and €13m in respect of damage from flooding in 2009.
A Member State has twelve weeks after the first damage caused by the disaster to submit an application for assistance from the Fund.
Any Government decision on this matter will be made following consideration of the effects of recent severe weather.
