Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As we speak, communities across the country are being battered by storm conditions and Met Éireann has put in place a "status red" warning - the highest category of warning for some areas. I implore people to follow Met Éireann's advice and that of the authorities, and follow all the necessary steps to protect themselves and their families. I know the emergency services, local authorities and utility providers are working hard to deal with the ongoing fallout from the storm and that this work will continue in the coming days.

Department of Social Protection staff around the country remain on alert and are ready to respond to people who require humanitarian assistance. I am well aware of the devastation such severe weather can cause, having visited Limerick last Saturday to meet some of those worst affected by the flooding there. As with other parts of the country, various Department, agency and local authority staff are working in tandem to help people affected by the flooding there.

I was highly impressed by the community spirit in Limerick, particularly in St. Mary's and on the island. Neighbours were helping neighbours in time of need and the local community centre was critical in helping people. I commend the people of Limerick on what they have done in rallying around and coming together. That same community spirit will be vital all around the country in the coming days in dealing with the aftermath of the current storm. The Department will be on hand to assist in whatever way it can. I thank the Department's staff who were out and about talking to people and seeking to assist them from the moment the storm became of emergency status in Limerick.

I wish to outline the Department's role in responding to such severe weather events, and how our supports work. As Deputies are aware, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is the lead Department for severe weather emergencies and the Office of Public Works has responsibility for capital flood-relief activities. However, the Department of Social Protection has a key role to play in assisting households in the immediate aftermath of emergency events such as the recent severe weather conditions under the supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, scheme.

In dealing with events of this nature, the Department generally adopts a three-stage approach as follows. Stage 1 is to provide emergency income support payments for food, clothing, personal items and temporary accommodation in conjunction with local authorities in the immediate aftermath of the event. A relatively small amount of financial assistance is generally provided initially but this will increase as the extent of the problem and what needs to be done become clearer. Up to this week, the response on the ground to the current flooding was primarily at this stage. It is for this reason that only a small proportion of the overall funding available for humanitarian assistance has been required to date.

Stage 2 generally involves the replacement of white goods, basic furniture items and other essential household items. It is very important to note that the full extent of damage to homes does not become known until the floodwater abates and houses dry out. The Department is now starting to receive applications in the Limerick area that would generally be processed under stage 2 to cover items such as white goods - fridges, cookers and so on. These payments are being expedited.

Stage 3 is to identify what longer-term financial support or works are required. It could take several months before this stage of response commences and this involves a cross-departmental and cross-agency response. Work carried out can include plastering, dry-lining, relaying of floors, electrical re-wiring and painting. Again the local authority is very much involved as is the OPW, where there is very severe damage to houses. In previous times it has occasionally been necessary to relocate families to houses outside flood-risk areas and the OPW has the expertise in this regard. It is, therefore, to be expected that the most significant payments will be made in the second and third stages of the process.

In response to flooding in recent years typical payments ranged from less than €100 to €28,000 where very substantial home refurbishment was required. Typically the smaller payments are made at the beginning, for the reasons I outlined.

The Department is making exceptional needs payments to help meet essential, once-off expenditure. Urgent needs payments can be made to persons who would not normally be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance. There is also assistance under the humanitarian assistance scheme.

For example, a family consisting of a couple and two children with a gross household income of €70,000 or less will receive 100% of the amount deemed to be allowable and appropriate. For every €1,000 of household income above €70,000, the couple will be required to make a personal contribution of 1% toward the amount allowable.

In Limerick at this stage we have dealt with more than 300 families.

We also have an individual community welfare officer, who along with a social worker from Limerick council, is going door to door to the homes of elderly people and people who may be infirm or otherwise unable to get out. We have made about 80 home visits so far. We have also made a special allocation of €500,000 to both the Red Cross and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul because people may come to their attention who would not normally be inclined to visit a community welfare office or our offices.

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