Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme was approved by Government in November 2009 with a fund of €10m made available. In October 2023, Government approved an additional €3 million in funding for the scheme and agreed to increase the income limit levels for the scheme, giving access to those most in need.

The 2023 Revised Estimates provided for expenditure of €0.2 million on the scheme in 2023. Due to flooding in certain parts of the country in October 2023, an additional €2.9 million was approved by the Dáil as part of the Supplementary Estimate in November 2023, bringing the allocation for the scheme to €3.1 million.

The 2024 Revised Estimates has made an initial provision for expenditure of €0.125 million on the scheme this year.

The funding allocations for 2023 and 2024 are set out in the table below.

The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme provides means tested financial assistance to households affected by a severe weather event. As such, expenditure on the scheme is dependent on the occurrence of extreme weather events, and is therefore demand lead and can fluctuate significantly each year as a result.