Rose Conway-Walsh urges urgent fixes to post-storm aid scheme
Rose Conway-Walsh criticised delays and inconsistencies in the post-storm humanitarian aid scheme and called on the minister to act swiftly. She urged that all affected households, small businesses, farmers and fishermen receive fair payments and emergency supports without further delay.
Scheme inconsistencies and delays
There are widespread inconsistencies in the humanitarian scheme, with some people receiving payments and others receiving none. She cited constituents who have waited a month and a half and emphasised that it is unacceptable to be "three months after the storm" with many open-ended issues still unresolved.
Payments and eligible losses
She pressed for clear, equitable payouts for losses directly caused by the storm, including damage to roofs, spoiled food in freezers and extra household expenses incurred while without electricity or power. She stressed payments should be for entitlements only but must cover the demonstrable storm damage suffered by people in Mayo and elsewhere.
Infrastructure and emergency equipment
The speaker highlighted persistent infrastructure problems, including the lack of an "air connection" hampering remote work, and called for immediate provision of generators. She singled out the urgent need for a generator for the Clare Island health centre, saying lives depend on it.
Support for businesses, farmers and fishermen
She warned that promised supports for small businesses and farmers have not been delivered and noted the unequal treatment of some sectors. She referenced a successful claim by oyster fishermen for €160,000 and said other fishermen have genuine losses; insurance is not always available and excesses - cited as €2,000 in one example - can be unaffordable amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Call for prompt action
She urged the minister to concentrate resources in the coming days and weeks to tidy up the scheme and ensure everyone receives what they are entitled to. She offered to work with the minister and colleagues to resolve outstanding issues and secure equitable treatment for the West.
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Minister, you will be very familiar with what I am going to say, and I do want to acknowledge the work that you have done so far on this scheme as well. We need to tidy up this scheme, we need to sort out the inconsistencies in it, because just as my colleague was saying in Claire Coran, some people are getting some and others aren't getting any at all, and then I had another message from somebody tonight who has been waiting a month and a half and their roof was really damaged at the same time. So we have to find a way, and I don't know if you have the resources within the department or you need to bring resources in, but we cannot be going on three months after the storm with so many open-ended things around the scheme. So that is the humanitarian scheme, both the number one and number two, there are lots of things to be done there. We need to make sure that everybody is paid out, and you know you will want everyone in Mayo to get paid out in the same way as I do. Not anything they are not entitled to, but certainly the damage that has been done to people. So whether that be the food in their freezer, what they have had to spend while they had no electricity or no power, or other expenses that are directly involved with the storm and the storm damage. I tell you as well, I still don't have any air connection, and I don't know when it is going to be back. I mean, we are how many months afterwards. So you are on a Zoom meeting and you are trying to make things work. It is impossible. We want to encourage people to work from home. We cannot expect them to work from home if we don't have consistency there as well. I talked to you as well about the generators that are needed. And you know, Clare Island, again, we really need to get a generator there for the health centre in Clare Island. It is very urgent and important that that is done as well. Lives depend on it. I think we can do this, but we need to concentrate it over the next number of days and number of weeks. I and my colleagues will work with you to make sure that everybody gets what they are entitled to. Because people are putting it all the time, and I am sure they are to yourself, if this happened in Dublin, it would be treated much differently. And we want the same equity for people in the West and when people have the damage that they have experienced in the West. For businesses as well, for small businesses, like there was a lot promised at the time, but there has been no scheme delivered for businesses or for farmers as well. And as Louise mentioned, you know, we have won a case of the fishermen, the oyster fishermen, 160,000 that was lost. But there are other fishermen as well, that they genuinely have lost. And there is no point in saying insurance, because some of these aren't insured. And in other ways, the excess is too much that people cannot, you know, if their excess is 2,000 Euro, they just can't afford it. And we are in the middle of a cost of living crisis. So I really want to get it sorted out in the next coming days and weeks.
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