Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the humanitarian assistance scheme 2009, as administered through the community welfare service, will offer assistance to householders who were affected by the recent floods in the Blackrock-Monkstown area of County Dublin; if the scheme will be especially targeted at those whose houses were flooded in the past and who do not have insurance cover as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33568/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is the lead Department for severe weather emergencies and the Office of Public Works has responsibility for capital flood relief activities. However, the Department of Social Protection has an important role to play in assisting households in the immediate aftermath of emergency events such as the recent floods.

The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme is the "safety net " within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants. The main purpose of the scheme is to provide immediate and flexible assistance for those in need who do not qualify for payment under other State schemes.

Under the SWA scheme, the Department can make a single payment to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. These payments are known as exceptional needs payments (ENP).

In addition to the payment of ENPs, SWA legislation also provides for assistance in the form of an urgent needs payment (UNP). In certain circumstances, this payment can be made to persons who would not normally be entitled to SWA. Examples of situations where such assistance may be provided would be in the aftermath of flooding or a domestic fire where the immediate needs, such as food, clothing, fuel, household goods and perhaps shelter, of the people affected may be met by a UNP in cash or in kind.

The Department's response to the current flooding situation, has involved departmental officials (former Community Welfare Officers) providing individual households with emergency payments to offset their immediate needs e.g. assistance with the purchase of food, clothing, fuel and household goods. Officials have made house to house calls to individuals they have identified as being vulnerable at this difficult time. In addition, emergency clinics have been established in the worst affected areas to offer help to households.

Officials are currently working in conjunction with the Red Cross and other agencies assisting households with their immediate needs.

As was the case in 2009, a humanitarian assistance scheme would be required where a particular event has caused loss and damage to a large number of people on a wide-spread scale and the support required is greater than can be coped with by the usual assistance mechanisms. When the full extent of an emergency event has been determined a decision to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in an area affected is a matter for Government. No such decision has been made.