Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish the Taoiseach and the Government well today in their talks with the trade unions. It would be wrong to have a second one-day strike next week, and I hope the talks conducted by the Government will be meaningful, in return for calling off the strike.

The accounts are to be published tomorrow for the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. These accounts will show an estimated operating loss of €27 million. The authority was funded by Anglo Irish Bank, and personnel from the bank were on the authority's board. Almost €460 million was spent on the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle Company site, of which the authority owns 26%. Does the Taoiseach think this is an appropriate way to conduct business? Does he have a view that the Government will have to bail out the authority because of the extent of its operating loss?

When we debated yesterday the consequences of flooding across the country, the Government was able to come up with a maximum of €12 million for people whose livelihoods have been washed away, but it now appears as if the Government will have to bail out the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to the extent of €27 million, which resulted from the involvement of bankers and developers in the unregulated and unsupervised purchase of assets like the glass bottle company site. Is it the Government's intention to bail out the docklands authority?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The annual report of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority will be published tomorrow and will be dealt with by the chairman then. The authority is a commercial semi-State body, financed entirely from its own resources, generated through the acquisition, development and sale of assets in the docklands. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has a general oversight role, ensuring that the authority complies with its statutory requirements and that it continues to fulfil its roll in revitalising, regenerating the docklands area. The authority will issue its report tomorrow. It will be dealt with by that authority, which is a commercial semi-State body.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has a general oversight responsibility for this commercial semi-State body. As the Government, through the Department, has a general oversight responsibility here, does the Taoiseach think it appropriate that bankers would authorise lending to the extent that they did for the purchase of an asset, when members of that bank were on the board of the purchasing authority itself? Does having a general oversight responsibility extend to saying something about that?

The operating loss for the authority is €27 million, as is now common knowledge. It is a commercial body that cannot default on its loans. Will the taxpayer fork out €27 million to bail out the Dublin Docklands Development Authority as a result of this, when the taxpayer is also expected to put €27 billion into the same bank?

Deputy Hogan has requested that the Comptroller and Auditor General be involved in an independent audit of the conduct of the DDDA and its financial affairs. Will the Taoiseach authorise this request, so that transparency and accountability can be had in this case?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The authority's accounts are audited by external auditors, KPMG. The authority is specifically excluded, along with many other State and semi-State commercial bodies, from being audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Under existing arrangements, it is open to the joint environment committee to have the authority appear before it, and thus afford the Oireachtas the opportunity to question the authority. I am aware that the committee has asked the authority to come before it next week.

Professor Niamh Brennan was appointed chairperson of the authority, and she has particular expertise in this area. The Minister has asked for a report on the governance situation and is awaiting that report from the authority. All State bodies have been asked to certify that their procedures and practices are in accordance with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies, an updated version of which was published by the Department of Finance in May 2009. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government wrote separately to the chairperson, looking for a comprehensive review of corporate governance in the DDDA. I understand that review is advancing well, but some further work remains to be done, so I cannot speculate on what the review might say. That report will be considered when it is submitted, as will any recommendations arising from it.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As we meet this morning, hundreds of families throughout the country are still not able to get back into their homes after the floods. Many are coping with trying to clean up, there are thousands in Cork who still have no water and there are many who are literally watching the level of the water to see how far it is from the front door of their home or business, as the spell of bad weather continues.

I appreciate that this was unprecedented and that it happened very suddenly and, indeed, that the emergency services responded very quickly and appropriately to it. However, we are a week into this spell of bad weather and I want to ask the Taoiseach about the Government's response to it. First, will the Taoiseach accept that the fund of €12 million will not be adequate to deal with the scale of the problem that has arisen with the flooding and the bad weather?

Second, I listened to the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, last night and to a representative of the HSE this morning tell us that applications for that funding to community welfare officers will be means-tested and that people applying should bring with them the appropriate documents they would need for a means test. What instructions have been given to community welfare officers in respect of means testing? Will it be the same type of rigorous means test that is applied when people are applying for emergency payments, where they must bring everything from their bank statements to household bills and so on? Does anybody appreciate that the last thing somebody who has had their home flooded needs is the kind of inquiries that are made during a means test of that kind? Can some arrangement not be made whereby advance payments are made to householders who have been flooded, which might in the course of time be restored from insurance payments or otherwise? At the least, people should not be forced to go through a means test, having gone through the trauma of being flooded.

Third, has the Taoiseach given any instructions to the banks in respect of making short-term credit available to businesses who need to get back into business as quickly as possible after the flood situation and need help with restocking and so on?

Fourth, I wish to ask about the European fund that is available given that the Government said yesterday it was making inquiries about that fund. Has any application been made for assistance from the European Union in respect of the fund for flooding? Has an invitation been issued to the EU Commissioner to visit Ireland to see at first hand the effect of the flooding in different parts of the country?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

First, the response of the Government and all of the agencies is a continuing one. As I said yesterday, the needs emerge and change as circumstances change, and we are still in the midst of a weather pattern which is causing flooding and rainfall, with all the attendant problems in terms of the overflow from our river systems and how that is affecting many people up and down the country. I was making the point that there are certain parts of the Shannon basin yet to be affected that will undoubtedly be affected based on previous experience. Everyone is very conscious of the fact that this is a changing and evolving situation, and, as we get on top of one problem, other problems emerge. We are in that situation as matters stand.

Second, in regard to the question of providing assistance, the Government made a decision yesterday about the opening of a funding line, initially of €10 million. It requires a Government decision for that humanitarian aid to be put in place under the legislation, which is the responsibly of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. That is in addition to existing arrangements regarding urgent needs payments and exceptional needs payments, which are provided at the discretion of the community welfare officer in the normal way in which supplementary welfare is provided, as people will be aware.

Obviously, one seeks to avoid an overly bureaucratic response but, at the same time, one has to be accountable for public moneys. Therefore, it is based on the experience and discretion of the community welfare service that this humanitarian aid fund is being provided, augmenting not replacing or substituting existing funding arrangements in respect of urgent and exceptional needs payments, which, as the Deputy knows, can be provided as an emergency response in respect of food, clothing, bedding or whatever would be required in the immediate term. The community welfare officers will be working closely with other agencies in the locality which would have a very clear knowledge and understanding of who is being affected on a daily basis, as the situation evolves in local situations.

Clearly, the Government made an initial response yesterday to enable that to happen, and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs was working on that during the course of yesterday. As I said, now that this funding line has been authorised, the social welfare service can proceed to have a further line of funding available, in addition to what is already in place under the social welfare Vote at present, through the various schemes to which I referred.

With regard to the question of the banks, the Tánaiste is meeting with the Small Business Forum today to see what issues arise in that regard and to see in what way Government can assist. It is a question of trying to meet local situations as they arise, as demands and needs become identified, and as the assessments that are now being undertaken proceed.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Taoiseach did not reply to my question as to whether any application has been made for European assistance with the emergency fund? I would like him to answer it.

As a first point, I put it to the Taoiseach that the normal means-tested community welfare officer response to situations where people find themselves without money is not appropriate in this situation, and this will have to be varied. We are talking here about people whose homes have been flooded. The kind of documentation that community welfare officers normally seek may well have been washed away in the flood in many of these houses and, in any event, it is not appropriate that people who have gone through the trauma of a flood would go through the kind of rigorous means test that is normally applied by community welfare officers. Therefore, I ask that this approach be varied and that new instructions are issued to community welfare officers which are appropriate to this set of circumstances.

Second, I ask the Taoiseach to arrange with the banks, which are now supported by the State, to provide short-term credit for businesses and farms that need to get back into operation again and that have a requirement for short-term funding. These are people who must get back on their feet.

Third, throughout the debate yesterday, many Members, including Members from the Taoiseach's side and including a Minister of State, suggested an independent review should be carried out, when the floods have abated, to examine what actually happened here. Given climate change and all that is happening, we can anticipate spells of bad weather like this happening again and we need to be better prepared than we were on this occasion. The review needs to consider the flow of information — for example, what happened in Cork, where the information seems to have been somewhat deficient for whatever reason — as well the water management systems and some of the planning permissions that were granted for development and building on what were flood plains. There should be a review of this situation and I ask that it be carried out after the floods have abated.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

First, the Government contacted our permanent representative in Brussels yesterday, arising out of our Cabinet meeting yesterday, to inquire as to what assistance is available from the EU in respect of various solidarity funds and other emergency funding that arises when floods occur and where serious problems arise. That matter is in hand and is being proceeded with in the normal and appropriate way.

Second, in regard to the question about the banking situation and the difficulties that businesses will face in this situation, as the Deputy said, there is the insurance aspect to all of this. In addition, as a result of meeting with representatives of the small business forum today, the Tánaiste will liaise with banks to see in what way they can assist. The Tánaiste will also ask the county enterprise boards to do an assessment at local level of the position for local businesses.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Has that not yet been done?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is being done.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It will be later today.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It has been done.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We are meeting them now.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is being done. We must deal with the independent review as we tackle our priorities, which relates to the conversation we have had up to now. What lessons are to be learned and what issues arise for the future are matters that can and should be looked at?

There has been much discussion about what happened at Iniscarra. My understanding is that if the water came over the top of the dam, all the hydrological expertise available to the ESB suggested that far more water would have come down into the valley at that point. The question of structural damage to the dam may also have come into play by holding back water, given the amount of water coming against the dam at the time. These are technical matters that can and will be addressed in due course. Having spoken to sitting county managers in Cork when I visited the city on Monday, I know they are very much of the view that this matter can be dealt with in the aftermath of the immediate emergency issues arising for individuals.

These are matters for later. The immediate point is to deal with the issue as it arises, provide assistance where possible and to do this in as flexible a way as possible that is consistent with principles of public accountability for public funds. We must consider how to assist affected businesses apart from the insurance cover that they have. The matter is being dealt with by the Tánaiste's office as we speak.