Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We know, regrettably, more severe weather events will hit our country in the time ahead and how the State responds to them, particularly in terms of how it supports people who are impacted, will be very important. During and immediately after Storm Éowyn, Ministers, including the Taoiseach, promised those people who were financially impacted and who were suffering as a result would be supported, and they were continuously pointed towards the humanitarian assistance scheme. I estimate that in recent days tens of thousands of people, if not more, have received rejection letters to their urgent appeals to the Government for support after the impact of Storm Éowyn on their families as a result of the power outages, in particular in respect of the need to discard frozen food. The Department now tells us that frozen food it is not an acceptable compensatory item, even though it is probably the single greatest expense that many families endured. Will the Taoiseach intervene with the Department of Social Protection and ensure those people financially impacted as a result of the fact that they had to discard food from fridges or freezers will be compensated in some small way?

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