Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

On the flooding, because the issue is important, a sum of €10 million has been made available in humanitarian aid. So far community welfare officers have assisted 1,300 families. Many of the claims submitted to date have been quite small, but we envisage that, as people go back to their homes, they will realise exactly what is needed and the fund will be available to them. We, therefore, expect to receive many more applications during the spring. We also know that in towns such as Clonmel people were not able to take out insurance because their properties had previously been flooded, but in other areas people had insurance because it was their first such awful experience. We understand they are trying their insurance companies first before they seek humanitarian aid. Nonetheless, the fund will be available to them.

An allocation of €70 million was announced in the budget for infrastructural works which are just as important as humanitarian aid because we want to make sure this does not happen again. That money is available immediately and will be into next year to ensure we can carry out flood relief works. Humanitarian aid is available through my Department and there is no backlog of applications. People are now beginning to come forward. We will certainly keep the position under review in case more is needed.