Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

There will be some kind of investigation into exactly what occurred and we will wait to see what the fallout from that is. I want to ask the Minister about the hardship fund. Can we take it that the criteria for means testing money from community welfare officers will not apply in this case? Can we ensure that they will not apply? People are at a huge loss through flood damage to their homes, furniture and clothing. In the run up to Christmas, it would be grossly unfair to place the type of restrictions that normally apply to funds provided by community welfare officers.

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