Executive Approves Initial £5 Million Aid For Flood Victims

The Northern Ireland Executive has made up to £5 million available to help District Councils meet the needs of people affected by the severe flooding on Tuesday.

Finance Minister, Rt Hon Peter Robinson MP, MLA who chaired the meeting to co-ordinate the Ministerial response to the emergency, announced the approval of the cash aid this afternoon.

The Minister said: “Up to £5 million is being made available to the Department of the Environment today. This money is being provided to support the work of District Councils responding to the needs of householders affected by the floods which hit several parts of Northern Ireland earlier this week. Government is also examining the possible requirement for an Emergency Fund to help deal with similar incidents of this nature and scale, as and when they arise.

“The Executive felt that this is the best way of providing material help to people in hardship whose homes have been badly affected by flood damage.

“The focus for this aid is not the provision of financial compensation, but instead the provision of practical assistance in areas such as cleaning up flood damage, restoring essential household utilities, and ensuring homes are made habitable as quickly as possible.

“District Councils will need a little time to put the necessary procedures in place, but the provision of this money means that delays should be kept to a minimum.

“Ministers will review the situation at next Thursday’s meeting of the Executive. In the meantime the Ministerial team wants to ensure that the funds are available quickly to help restore some semblance of normality to the lives of people in the worst hit areas.”

Mr Robinson said that he had been very impressed by the rapid response of emergency services on Tuesday. He was grateful to all those, including local businesses, who had stepped forward with tangible help. It was a time, he said, which had brought out the best in people.

“Clearly lessons will be learned from what has taken place and the Executive will be examining all the options available in a bid to help ensure that the recurrence of emergencies of this kind is minimised,” the Minister added.