Minister confirms humanitarian aid will be made available to victims of flooding
Humanitarian Aid will be made available to support those affected by the severe flooding that destroyed over 30 houses in a Bettystown village last weekend while the Office of Public Works has said it will engage with its engineers and Meath Co Council in the coming days to determine the cause of the event.
The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, confirmed the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is available to support to those living in properties directly affected by the recent flooding in the Village Estate.
The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme prevents hardship by providing income-tested financial support to people whose homes are damaged from flooding and severe weather events and who are not in a position to meet costs for essential needs, household items and structural repair. A fund of €10 million is in place for this purpose.
The Minister acknowledged that while a small number of people had been affected, it was important that the support was made available to assist them.
Commenting today, Minister Humphreys said:
“The recent flooding has caused some damage and disruption to those living in parts of County Meath, including in the Bettystown area. My department is liaising on the ground with the people affected to make sure they have access to the help that they need.”
In dealing with emergency events the department generally adopts a three-stage approach as follows:
Stage 1 provides emergency income support payments (food/clothing/personal items) in the immediate aftermath of the event.
Stage 2 involves the replacement of white goods, basic furniture items and other essential household items
Stage 3 is to identify what longer term financial support is required, including plastering, dry-lining, relaying of floors, electrical re-wiring and painting
Levels of payment under the scheme depend on the relative severity of damage experienced and the household’s ability to meet these costs, ensuring that the funding is appropriately targeted.
The means assessment for Humanitarian Assistance is more generous than that applied under means tested Social Welfare payments in general. The basic principle of the income test is that individuals and families with average levels of income will qualify for assistance, including non-Social Welfare recipients.
The scheme does not cover risks that are covered by insurance policies or cover business or commercial losses.
If necessary, the Community Welfare Service can also provide support for other essential needs, for example, Additional Needs Payments may be made to assist with essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income.
The Community Welfare Service can be contacted using the national telephone line: 0818 60 70 80.
In a statement earlier today the OPW said it was requested by Meath County Council to provide assistance in the Mornington area last Saturday morning.
"Meath County Council requested the OPW to provide one 8 inch mobile pump to be placed at Lady’s Finger Bridge and a number of OPW operatives attended on site to set up the pumping operation.
"There are additional works proposed for the Mornington Flood Relief Scheme and in the coming days the OPW will engage with Meath County Council and OPW’s design engineers, RPS, to determine the exact nature of the flood event of the 5th August, the associated mechanism(s) of flooding and, subsequent to that, will determine what measures can be incorporated into the design of any proposed works to mitigate against future flooding risks in the Bettystown and Mornington area.
Mornington Flood Relief Scheme
"The Mornington Flood Relief Scheme, consented to under the Arterial Drainage Acts, 1945 and 1995, was substantially completed in 2013, providing protection to some 162 properties. This flood relief scheme has a design standard of 1% AEP (annual exceedance probability or chance) for a fluvial flood event and 0.5% AEP for a coastal flood event. The OPW directly managed the construction of the existing flood defences and funded the development of these defences.
"The Mornington FRS is maintained annually by the OPW East Region Drainage Maintenance Section. Maintenance involves silt and vegetation removal from circa 3km of channel, and vegetation management on circa 5km of embankment. Maintenance is generally carried out in Q4 of each year."