Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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507. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 27 February 2025, if he will provide a breakdown of the number of applications received under the humanitarian assistance scheme, by county, in the aftermath of storm Éowyn to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15388/25]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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508. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 27 February 2025, if he will provide a breakdown of payments under the humanitarian assistance scheme, by county, in the aftermath of storm Éowyn, to date in 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15389/25]

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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519. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of applications received by his Department under the humanitarian assistance schemes form 1 and 2, broken down by the number that have been processed, are still awaiting processing, and for which payments have been made, and turned down, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15655/25]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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525. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide an update on the humanitarian assistance scheme (storm Éowyn); the number of applicants who have applied for assistance by county, in tabular form; the amounts paid out; the number of refusals of payment; the reasons for refusals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15719/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 507, 508, 519 and 525 together.

The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders across the country affected by Storm Éowyn.

Up to Wednesday 26 March, the Community Welfare Service have registered 75,813 claims for Stage 1 of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme. Just over 28,600 claims have been awarded, with over €6.82 million being paid in respect of Storm Éowyn related claims. Table 1 provides details up to 26 March on the number of applications registered, number of payments made, and expenditure by county since Storm Éowyn.

In the context of the particular circumstances of Storm Éowyn, and as an exceptional measure, additional flexibility has been applied to the timeframe for Stage 1 of the scheme. Until claim processing is completed, my department cannot provide a breakdown analysis of claims received under stages 2 and 3 of the scheme or information on the number awaiting a decision. As all decisions positive and negative have a right of review, therefore, the total number of disallowed claims will not be known until all requests for review are completed.

However, I can assure the Deputies that claim processing levels within the Community Welfare Service are closely monitored and that Humanitarian Assistance Scheme claims are being processed as quickly as possible, with priority given to the most urgent cases. Additional staff have been assigned to deal with applications to ensure there are no undue delays.

Where an immediate need presented in the aftermath of the storm these claims were paid by way of a cheque payment ‘on the spot’ by a Community Welfare Officer. The focus for the Department at the moment remains on ensuring that payments will issue as soon as possible to those eligible for the payment.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.

Tabular Statement

Table 1 - Number of Applications Registered and Payments Made, and Expenditure by County Since Storm Éowyn.