Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise the need for compensation for flood victims throughout the country, but especially in Cork city, on the Adjournment. I call on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to outline the measures that will be put in place as a matter of urgency, in particular for the middle parish, Grattan Street and the Mardyke areas of Cork city.

We have had the wettest November on record with rain cascading down and causing flooding. This has displaced and wrecked family homes and the lives and livelihoods of many. I thank the Department for its work so far but fear it will make the humanitarian aid it has announced bureaucratic and cumbersome for people who need it.

Having visited people's homes and spoken to those affected the word "devastation" is an understatement of what they have suffered. The impact of the flooding is phenomenal. In Cork, hundreds of people were displaced as well as thousands of students from University College Cork. Part of the city was under water. I worry that we could create a situation in which home insurance will be impossible not just for those on the floodplain. Some houses will be uninsurable. University College Cork gave a briefing last weekend in which it said that the damage to 29 buildings is estimated at €25 million. One can multiply that out to the Mardyke, the Western Road, Grattan Street, Peter Street and Patrick Hanly Buildings where family homes have been decimated. Thankfully the flood water did not stay in Cork as long as it did in the west but the homes are in an unbelievable state. I was in a house last Saturday morning where even after a week of dehumidifiers working, the smell and the unsightly damage to the family home distressed people.

I note the Taoiseach's remark about the means-testing of the humanitarian aid but it is important we try to prevent this being a bureaucratic system, recognise that people are not looking to rip off the system and assist people in re-starting and restructuring their lives. I was in a house on Saturday whose occupier had lost all their medication, personal effects and belongings. Businesses have closed and employees are unable to work because of the nature of their jobs. Wages, livelihoods, stock and property have all been lost. I hope the Minister of State will give a positive response.

There has been a great outpouring of goodwill from the community welfare officers, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the public sector. At a time when public servants are getting bad press, those in the city of Cork were to the forefront of the recovery work and deserve great praise. The spirit of Cork is alive. People are looking for assistance and I hope we can give them proper assistance.