Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It is a hardship fund so some element of means testing must be involved. Nonetheless, I accept what previous speakers said about having too much bureaucracy. We will try to avoid that. In answer to Deputy Hogan's point, I believe that community welfare officers are the right people to do this work because they have local knowledge. Good and all as the Red Cross is, it is not locally based. It is intended that community welfare officers, in conjunction with local authorities and local gardaí, will be able to identify real needs. They will be able to assist us in that regard. We intend to set up that system quickly so that we can respond immediately. In that context, we will have to prioritise older people, parents with young children and those who have been made homeless as a result of the floods. Those are our priorities.

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