Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

It should be pointed out to the other Departments that are linked into addressing this issue that there needs to be a co-ordinated strategy to deal with all aspects of it in terms of insurance and dealing with the drainage and water infrastructure. With regard to the Minister's brief, I have received many reports of there being great inconsistency in what community welfare officers are willing to give people who call to them. In one place a person will get nothing while in other places the response in terms of humanitarian assistance is quite generous. Therefore, we need these guidelines. A number of community welfare officers contacted by my office stated they had no guidelines. Either they did not know what the guidelines were or there was uncertainty about them. There is a need for clarity and generosity when it comes to dealing with people who are innocent victims of the failure of various authorities to deal with this problem.

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