Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his response and for his understanding of the issues. The Office of Public Works in an interesting office and deals with very difficult situations.

The Minister of State mentioned the community centre. I thank Fr. Connaughton, from the parish of Drumconrath and Meath Hill, for his leadership on this issue. He has much work to do in the community centre.

The Minister of State mentioned the hardship scheme provided by the Department of Social Protection. This may or may not apply to the residents of Drumconrath. It is interesting and concerning that when I raised this with the residents at a meeting last Friday night, which was some time after the flooding, none of them was aware of the full details of the scheme and none had been contacted by a community welfare officer, which I understood was the Department's policy. They may or may not qualify for the scheme. I do not know their individual circumstances. Perhaps some further work could be done on that matter if there are people who may need to avail of the scheme but are not fully aware of it. The people I spoke to knew about the scheme but they certainly had not been contacted by anyone from the Department of Social Protection.