Varadkar: Financial support to be given for homes and firms destroyed by Babet

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the government will be offering a financial package to support people whose homes and businesses were damaged in floods during Storm Babet.

Mr Varadkar faced questioning from locals of severely-hit Midleton, Co Cork, who raised concerns about the scale and timeframe of supports.

His visit came during a major clean-up operation to deal with the aftermath of flooding that swamped several towns and villages in Ireland.

Counties Cork and Waterford on the southern coast of the island were the worst hit during Storm Babet, with some areas still under water on Thursday.

Cork County Council said more than a month’s worth of rain fell in the space of 24 hours, leading to unprecedented flooding, saturated land and high river levels across the county.

Army and civil defence units were deployed to support evacuation measures in Midleton following the storm.

Business owners in Midleton recounted a scramble to deal with the sudden surge of water, with local barber Firat Uygun saying “the water was up to my knees” within minutes.

Sinead Morrissey, owner of Bertelli Menswear, said: “It happened so quickly. We had three minutes to get the flood barriers out.

“We kept the water out for an hour-and-a-half or so but then it got so high it came over the barriers and there was nothing we could do.

“We had to abandon the store at three o’clock. It’s just absolutely horrific.”

Ms Morrissey added: “We need help and we need it now.”

Flooding was also reported in Whitegate, Rathcormac, Glandore, Ringaskiddy, Carrigaline, Raffeen, Halfway and Casteltownbere in Co Cork.

In Waterford, there were reports of flooding in Dungarvan, Tallow and Clashmore.

Forecaster Met Eireann has issued a further status yellow rain warning for Cork, Kerry and Limerick, with heavy rain expected overnight, likely to lead to more flooding and dangerous travelling conditions before expiring at 9am on Friday morning.

Speaking to reporters in Midleton on Thursday, Mr Varadkar said: “It’s very, very hard to know what to say. I visited a few places affected by floods in the past but this is particularly bad.

“Water levels rose very high, the water came very quickly, and of course, a lot of the water is dirty. So a lot of damage done here is to homes as well.

“But we’re not just here as a Government to just to express solidarity, we’re here to help.

“So we’re putting in place a financial package to help homes that are affected, businesses that weren’t insured – clearly a lot of damage to roads and bridges as well and they’re going to need to be repaired.”

He said there is an initial allocation of 10 million to help families, businesses and voluntary organisations that are affected.

Mr Varadkar added: “But it’s not capped at 10 million, that’s just the initial allocation that’s made.”

Local business owners, including Ms Morrissey, also questioned the Taoiseach during the media opportunity.

She told Mr Varadkar that no business owners feel “like anything has been done” in relation to flood prevention.

She said the initial 5,000 euro grant would “go nowhere” towards the cost of the damage to her business.

“It’s just devastation,” she said.

Mr Varadkar said that the amount available to businesses would have to be raised due to the severity of the damage caused.

“There is an initial grant of five thousand (euro) just to get people going, and then a higher grant of up to 20,000 after that,” he said.

“But I think we’ll have to increase that limit because the level of damage to some of the stock here, particularly with people who brought stock in for Christmas, is very high.”

Mr Varadkar also said that a flood relief scheme for Midleton was “being progressed”, but that the government “can’t cut corners”.

“The anger and frustration is entirely understandable, and I can identify with it,” he said. “We’ve done about 50 flood relief schemes, places like Douglas, places like Togher, places like Bandon. They work – there’s another 90 that are in progress.”

He added: “We can’t cut corners on them. There are environmental issues. There are very often objections to the schemes. And very often they end up in court as well.

“This one here in Midleton, preliminary works are done already, the environmental assessment is underway, and we intend to put in a planning application for next year.

“But we can’t control whether or not people object, we can’t control the environmental issues.”