€3.6m paid to households hit by Storm Babet in Cork and Waterford

A little over €3.6m has been paid to approximately 450 households in the Cork and Waterford area impacted during the extensive flooding caused by Storm Babet under a humanitarian assistance scheme administered by the Department of Social Protection, a spokesperson for the department has confirmed in response to a query from The Echo.

In its response, the department stressed that the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme which was activated by then Minister Heather Humphreys in the days after the storm hit the south, East Cork in particular, on October 17, 2023, was “designed to provide hardship alleviation, as opposed to compensation, and return a person’s home to a habitable condition following a severe weather event”.

The statement from the department came in the wake of criticism from a spokesperson for the East Cork Flood Protection Group, Caroline Leahy, who said the scheme was not fit for purpose as the amounts paid out to households whose homes were badly damaged by flooding had not gone “next or near in a lot of cases to what they [residents] need”.

There was also criticism of the process to seek humanitarian aid as families were required to submit three quotes for works to be carried out and this proved difficult as builders and other tradespeople were inundated with calls.

According to Ms Leahy, this burden of work on families proved to be of no use as the department sent out its assessor to determine the damage and estimate the cost.

In its response, the department spokesperson explained the purpose of the scheme was “to provide financial support to people whose homes are damaged and couldn’t get insurance, are not able to meet costs for essential needs, household items and, in some instances, structural repair”.

Payments have been issued to approximately 450 householders between October 2023 and February 5 this year at a cost of just over €3.6m, the spokesperson said.

“The department has a contract in place with a loss adjuster for the provision [of] services.

“In relation to large works to be carried out under Stage 3 of the scheme, the affected house is independently assessed by the loss adjuster who will also independently assess the quoted costs of repair and make a recommendation to the department on the amount of support required to return the house to a habitable condition.

“This recommended amount is then subject to the income test to establish the capability of the household to meet those costs,” the spokesperson said.