Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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128. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if targeted supports will be provided for homes in the areas affected by flooding in western areas of County Cork recently. [23162/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is the lead Department for severe weather emergencies and the Office of Public Works (OPW) has responsibility for capital flood relief activities. However, my Department has an important role to play in assisting households in the immediate aftermath of emergency events such as flooding under the humanitarian assistance scheme.

The purpose of the humanitarian assistance scheme is to provide income-tested financial support to people whose homes are damaged and who are not in a position to meet costs for essential needs, household items and in some instances structural repair.

Emergency income support payments to cover essential items such as food, clothing and personal items are issued quickly in the immediate aftermath of the weather event. Supports towards the replacement of white goods, basic furniture items and other essential household items may take longer as it is not until the flood water abates and houses dry out that the full extent of the damage to homes becomes known. The longer term supports can cover remedial works such as plastering, relaying of floors, electrical re-wiring and painting and it can take several months before this stage of the response is completed.

The scheme is available to provide support to householders following the recent flooding events in West Cork. The Community Welfare Service has been engaging with a small number of households that have sought assistance.

If any homeowner affected by the recent flooding needs to access these supports, they should make contact with the Community Welfare Service at 028-21047 or corkswa2020@welfare.ie.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.