Payments of around €1.4m in aid made to flood-hit Cork householders 

APPROXIMATELY €1.4m in 820 payments from a government humanitarian fund has been paid to householders in Cork who were impacted by flooding caused during Storm Babet, according to Department of Social Protection information provided to Cork North Central TD Pádraig O’Sullivan.

The humanitarian assistance fund was set up following the floods that devastated homes in Midleton, Glanmire, Rathcormac, and other communities around East Cork when rivers burst their banks on October 18.

Many homes in these areas were unable to secure insurance against flooding as they had previously claimed for flood damage.

The fund was designed to be paid out in three stages, including an initial payment of around €1,000 for basic kitchen essentials and a second payment to cover the replacement of white goods such as washing machines, dryers, cookers, and dishwashers. This would be paid on the production of an invoice.

The final payment is aimed at covering structural repairs. Many houses were damaged extensively — walls had to be stripped and replastered, flooring replaced, new electrical wiring installed, not to mention soft furnishing, which would have been badly affected by flood waters.

Some householders have reported damage amounting to €60,000-€80,000, while other households have bills for a quarter of that amount.

Claims for these repairs would need to be backed up by estimates from three different builders, and claimants would need to provide details of all bank accounts to ensure their income was within the limits of €50,000 for a single person, €90,000 for a couple, and €15,000 for each dependent child.

Householders have experienced significant difficulties and delays getting quotes from constantly busy builders. Another factor has been that householders have held off getting quotes because they were afraid, as in the case of Glanmire’s Copper Valley Vue estate — one of the most badly impacted in the county —that they would be hit again by floods as they were not protected by a flood relief scheme.

Temporary flood relief measures have been put in place now at Copper Valley Vue, and work will not begin on a permanent flood relief scheme until July. The temporary works in Copper Valley Vue have only just been completed after frustrating delays for residents who had launched an online fundraising campaign to meet the costs of measures they were planning to put in place themselves.

Mr O’Sullivan told The Echo that he had been to every house in Copper Valley Vue and was aware of the situation there.

“A lot of people were holding off on their claims, there were only four claims submitted in Glanmire as of two weeks ago — that’s out of 30 houses, and is very low,” he said, adding that he had been in touch with the Department of Social Protection and it had confirmed that the level of applications had not improved significantly since then.

Aisling McEvoy, whose house was badly damaged in the flood, said that she had submitted an application for the third stage payment with builders’ quotes, and an assessor has called to her home in Copper Valley Vue.

“My husband was in when the assessor called and he was told: ‘This isn’t like insurance, what you will be getting is a token payment’,” she said, adding that her husband had attempted to show the assessor pictures of the damage done to the interior of the home.

Aisling added that some of her neighbours had a similar experience.

The Fianna Fáil TD said that it had been re-iterated to him by Department of Social Protection officials that households could receive up to 100% of the bill for structural repairs.

“People who have yet to apply for this funding should apply, and if they have any difficulty with this, they should contact me or other political representatives."

Clarification of its position has been sought from the Department of Social Protection.