Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

On my own behalf and that of the Government, I express sympathy to everyone affected by flooding in recent days. It has been a very traumatic time, as the Senator said, for those whose homes have been flooded. We all saw what happened on television and the newspapers and I had an opportunity of seeing some of the devastation. Serious flooding occurred in many parts of the country. The cause was exceptionally heavy rainfall during a two day period on 9 and 10 November, which led to flooding of homes in Athlone, and again on 14 and 15 November, which primarily affected the east of the country, particularly Dublin city, Meath and Kildare. On its own, this concentrated heavy rainfall would not have been expected to have such disastrous consequences, but when combined with two and a half times the average rainfall in the month of October and the first two weeks in November, it led to the disastrous consequences we have witnessed.

The immediate concern is to respond quickly to those affected by the flooding. Emergency plans were put into action by several local authorities. I commend the local authority staff, the Civil Defence, the Army, the Garda, the fire brigade, health authority staff and my own staff in the Office of Public Works, who were on the spot straight away helping those whose homes were flooded and some whose travel arrangements had been disrupted. The commitment of public service and voluntary staff in this type of situation is exceptional and deserves recognition. Unfortunately, it is only when we have a disaster on our hands that it comes to the fore.

As soon as the seriousness of the situation and the numbers of homes affected by the flooding became apparent, I asked my officials in the Office of Public Works to begin preparations for initiating a humanitarian aid scheme. The House will be aware that the Government has approved such schemes in similar situations in the past – most recently following the devastating flooding in Dublin city in February this year. The House will be aware also that at its meeting yesterday the Government approved my proposal to initiate a similar scheme which will be administered by the Red Cross on behalf of the Office of Public Works. Applications forms for the scheme are available from the Red Cross at a freefone number, 1800 923 424, and at the Red Cross website, www.redcross.ie. The eligibility criteria are extreme hardship, homelessness, damage to homes and serious injury. The scheme does not provide for compensation for losses – it provides for assistance where extreme hardship has been suffered.