Taoiseach defends means test system for flood victims

TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen defended the introduction of a means test for flood victims seeking funding.

“Obviously, one seeks to avoid an overly bureaucratic response, but, at the same time, one has to be accountable for public monies,” he said.

He said the Government was inquiring about what aid was available from EU sources.

He was replying to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who asked what instructions had been given to community welfare officers.

“Will it be the same type of rigorous means test that is applied when people apply for emergency payments, where they must bring everything from their bank statements to household bills and so on?’’

Mr Cowen said that, based on the experience and discretion of the community welfare service, a humanitarian aid fund was being provided, augmenting and not replacing or substituting for existing funding arrangements in respect of urgent and exceptional needs payments.

These could be provided as an emergency response in respect of food, clothing, bedding or whatever would be required in the immediate term, he said.

“The community welfare officers will be working closely with other agencies in the locality which would have a very clear knowledge and understanding of who is being affected on a daily basis, as the situation evolves in local situations,’’ Mr Cowen said.

The Government, he said, had made out an initial response on Tuesday to enable that to happen, and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, was working on it.

Meanwhile, said Mr Cowen, the Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, was meeting with the small business forum to see what other issues arose in that regard and what way the Government could assist.

Mr Gilmore said the normal means-test community welfare officer response to situations where people found themselves without money was not appropriate in the current situation.

He said the kind of documentation welfare officers normally sought might well have been washed away in the flood, and, in any event, it was not appropriate that people who had gone through the trauma of a flood would undertake the kind of rigorous means test that was normally applied.

On the situation in Cork, Mr Cowen said there had been much discussion about what had happened at Iniscarra.

“My understanding is that if the water came over the top of the dam, all the hydrological expertise available to the ESB suggested that far more water would have come down into the valley at that point. The question of structural damage to the dam may also have come into play by holding back water, given the amount of water coming against the dam at the time.’’

Mr Cowen said that those were technical matters that could, and would, be addressed in due course.

“Having spoken to sitting county managers in Cork when I visited the city on Monday, I know they are very much of the view that this matter can be dealt with in the aftermath of the immediate emergency issues arising for individuals,’’ said Mr Cowen.