Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the emergency services on the fantastic work they did over the past few days, in particular Limerick County Council and Novas Initiatives who housed 78 people in emergency temporary beds over the past couple of nights.

The Government's response has been messy in some areas, in particular in regard to its announcement regarding the fuel allowance.

Under pressure from the Opposition, including Sinn Féin, the Government changed its mind and decided to give an extra week's payment. That was obviously done on the hoof because payments were not ready in all instances when people went to collect them. Indeed, some people have not yet got their payments.

Workers and businesses did not know where they stood when the red weather warning was issued. In the aftermath of the last extreme weather event, Storm Ophelia, Sinn Féin proposed legislation that would clarify the position but unfortunately the Government kept its head in the sand and refused to deal with it. Some businesses and farmers will find themselves in severe financial difficulty as a result of the damage and losses to their businesses and I ask the Minister to outline the measures that are planned to deal with this.

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