MEP Marian Harkin says that Ireland should apply for the European Solidarity Fund to assist with €400 million needed for reconstruction following the catastrophic floods last week.
Harkin has contacted Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief, to initiate this process and also made contact with the European Commission regarding the possible application.
“This fund was set up by the European Union to assist Member States in the aftermath of national or regional disasters and, while the amounts awarded were small compared to the overall damage, it was nonetheless, of some assistance to Member States to get the clean-up underway and start repairing or rebuilding damaged infrastructure,” she said.
Ireland was previously awarded €13 million in aid following the severe flooding in the Cork region.
“Each region has a damage threshold that must be exceeded in order to apply for aid. In the case of the Border, Midland and Western region, that threshold is €497.8 million”, the Independent MEP pointed out.
“As the estimated costs of the flooding are currently in excess of €400 million it was highly likely that the affected area would qualify for aid, and I have therefore asked the Minister to start the ball rolling”, she said.
She concluded, “It is also worth noting that there was flexibility as to the threshold requirement where a number of smaller countries such as Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were able to access the Solidarity Fund for natural disasters without reaching the threshold, and I will be raising this point with the EU Commission.”
Tags: