Councillor’s fears over flood relief funding

Fine Gael TD Ulick Burke this week expressed reservations about the allocation of between €10m and €12m for South and East Galway flood relief works.
“Whilst I welcome the announcement, I am somewhat sceptical that this amount will be made available on the ground within the two-year time frame indicated by the minister,” deputy Burke stated.
He made his comments after Minister at the Office of Public Works, Martin Mansergh, announced that he expected to spend between €10m to €12m over the next two years on schemes in the area.
“The greatest fear now is that we will have another report gathering dust on the shelves and as yet, no meaningful works have occurred in South Galway, nothing on the Dunkellin River Basin and little in Ballinasloe,” Deputy Burke remarked.
Last December, a Humanitarian Aid package of €10m was announced by the Government to assist families throughout the country who were affected by the flooding.
“As at February last, only 718 payments had been made to 327 individuals in the Galway region, which totalled €289,000.
“This is an incredible figure when one realises the amount of businesses, farms, households, personal possessions and so on that were destroyed by the floods at that time,” he said.  
Deputy Burke said that while €10m was announced under the Humanitarian Aid Relief Fund, only €1.2mof this had been accessed nationally and claimed this was due “to the restrictive nature of the guidelines presented by the Department of Social and Family Affairs”.
“The HSE were charged with the task of administering the relief measures on behalf of the Department of Social Welfare.
“People trying to access support were hampered by excessive bureaucracy and red tape, with too many ­agencies being allocated responsibility which led to confusion in relation to the administration of the aid and difficulties for those who needed to access it most,” Deputy Burke said.
“Effectively, we had a national emergency during one of the coldest winters since records began yet unnecessary bureaucracy prevented many from accessing vital support at a time of great need.
“Today, there are still some families living in rented accommodation arising out of the damage caused to their homes, businesses and farms that are reluctant to return to their homes due to the distinct possibility of the flooding recurring again and the lack of availability of insurance cover from insurance companies.
“If these are the figures that that reflect the ‘hardship’ payments made to families in Galway out of an allocation of €10m, then it is unrealistic to expect that €10m to €12m will be available in the next two years for flood relief schemes,” he added.
Deputy Burke called for Galway County Council and the Office of Public Works to return to the very basic preventative measures of river drainage, replacing bridges, unblocking manholes and clearing gullies. 
“These simple yet effective measures would go a long way in preventing the level and speed in which damage was done last November.
It will not by any means fully eliminate the problems but certainly it will help prevent the level of flooding that was visited on so many families, households, businesses communities, farmers and farms throughout South and East Galway,” the Fine Gael TD said.
Speaking about the release of the study to address flooding on the Dunkellin River and Aggard Stream, Deputy Burke said, “This, together with the €1.96m spent in 1998 on reports would have eliminated all potential floods.”