IRELAND should
immediately begin the process of applying for the
European Solidarity Fund to assist with the clean-up
and reconstruction in the aftermath of the awful
flooding disaster in Co Donegal, said Marian Harkin
MEP today. She also confirmed she had already
contacted Minister Boxer Moran 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 has applied for the fund, just once, when
there was severe flooding in the region of Cork and
we received €13 million in aid. 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 added.
“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. 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,” Ms
Harkin said. |
