Midleton needs to see flood related aid ‘sooner not later’

BUSINESSES in Cork have stressed that any proposed relief from the Government for flood-affected firms needs to be “accessible immediately” and that many may need in excess of €70,000.

Cork South-Central TD and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney is expected to bring proposals to Cabinet today on two schemes to be offered to businesses affected by the floods.

The first is a scheme that would offer an initial €5,000 to flood-impacted businesses, and further support of up to €20,000 based on the scale of the damage. Mr Coveney told RTÉ Radio yesterday those amounts were not “appropriate” for badly-hit businesses, and a second scheme would offer around double the initial payment and “multiples” of the €20,000 after that — possibly more than €70,000.

€70,000 'not enough'

Midleton Chamber of Commerce president Adrianna Hegarty said a €70,000 relief scheme for businesses impacted by recent flooding would “not be enough” for many of them.

“The damage has been huge — flooring, shop refits, stock,” said Ms Hegarty.

“The price of materials and availability of tradespeople was already an issue after covid. For many, this may not be enough.”

Ms Hegarty told The Echo: “This is the biggest flood Midleton has seen in living memory.

“Ireland has experienced historic levels of rainfall in the last few months. The likelihood of this happening again is high and no businesses will have insurance after this. We need a better solution from the Government and insurance companies.”

Funds need to be accessible immediately 

Kevin Aherne of Sage, in Midleton, said he would like to see the scheme rolled out on a case-by-case basis.

“Everybody was in the same storm, but not everyone has the same-sized boat or canoe, so I think it should be on a case-by-case basis.

“Only recently with us the Vat rate went up, and I also think that should have been a case-by-case basis, but unfortunately everyone is being painted with the same brush and it shouldn’t really work like that.”

Mr Aherne also stressed the importance of releasing the funding as soon as possible.

“It needs to be accessible immediately and not weeks, months, and six months down the line for people.

“If the finance is there, which was quoted on the news by Leo Varadkar, who said it was readily available, it needs to be accessible and accessible immediately.”

He said the most important thing, however, is that people get looked after in terms of their homes.

'Awful shame' 

Mark Kennedy of O’Farrell’s Butchers, also in Midleton, who lost their refrigeration and stock in the floods, said if the scheme announced was for €70,000, it would see them put right again.

“When you’re dealing with food and with contamination, you just have to do a clean sweep and dump everything. That also includes packaging, our shoes, our overalls, our locker room, the lot has to go, but the €70,000 would put us right,” he said.

He said that he hoped it would happen sooner rather than later.

“Midleton is a fabulous town and it’s the heartbeat of East Cork.

“If you actually live down there, you wouldn’t need to go to the city at all, there’s so much there, so it would be an awful shame if there were 10 or 12 businesses that don’t come back from this.”

Fianna Fáil councillor Ann Marie Ahern said that where businesses in the town do not need a full allocation, it should still go back into the town of Midleton to “other businesses that may need it or the community services that may need it”.