Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Deputy's acknowledgement of the immediate engagement. In fact, most of the people who it was believed had been affected were contacted directly by officials of the Department before they contacted it. We travelled and met a group of them in the Deputy's constituency where we saw horrendous damage which was frightening. Some of the older structures were not insurable. The newer ones were, but a significant number were not. The scheme was an immediate response. What we were asked to do was to allow people to get back into production. It depended on whether it concerned soft fruit or an amenity. There are two timescales for them and we responded. The area to which the Deputy referred may be a niche market and small, but, quite honestly, I do not believe the scheme is in any way able to address it. It is not designed in that way and never was. It is flexible in many ways, but it cannot address that particular cohort.

See this speech in context