John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the legislation and regulations relative to the payment of humanitarian aid arising from the recent floods; if the findings and figures relative to the inspection by loss adjusters appointed by his Department will be made available to those who make a claim and request such information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11156/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the humanitarian assistance scheme is to prevent hardship by providing income tested financial support to people whose homes were damaged by flooding and other severe weather events and who are not in a position to meet costs for essential needs, household items and in some instances structural repair.

In early December 2015, the Department activated the humanitarian assistance scheme, administered by the local Community Welfare Service (CWS), to assist householders affected by the severe weather conditions. Since then, support has been provided to some 540 households with expenditure of €1.17 million.

The scheme is operated on an administrative basis under guidelines that have been issued to staff. The guidelines outline the supports that come within the scope of the scheme, the income assessment to be applied and the approach to be taken by officers when determining the level of payment to be made.

The Department has awarded a contract for the provision of loss adjusting services in respect of the humanitarian assistance scheme to support the assessment of damage to individual households in cases where structural repairs are necessary and the cost is estimated in excess of €5,000. Guidelines, issued in February 2016, provide guidance to officers in respect of claims involving repair of structural damage and detail the arrangements for referring cases to the Department’s loss adjusters for assessment and report.

The role of the loss adjuster is to provide an assessment of the reasonableness of builder’s estimates of damage caused to a person’s home by means of a site visit to the property. The loss adjuster provides an individual report per dwelling, including a costed itemised inventory of the works required to replace essential losses, to make any essential repairs and to return the person’s house to a habitable condition. The loss adjuster’s report in relation to a specific property can be made available to that householder on request.