Flood Crisis Irish MEPs promised assessment by the Commissioner for Regional Policy as a matter of urgency.

Tuesday November 24 2009

A number of Irish MEPs today met in Strasbourg with Commissioner Samecki on the flooding crisis in Ireland and requested him to consider the deployment of funding from the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to help Ireland deal with the horrendous flooding experienced in Ireland over the last week.

The Commissioner reacted positively by indicating his willingness to send a delegation from the Commission to carry out an on the spot assessment of the damage.

In order to determine whether or not Ireland qualifies for this funding the damage may have to exceed a level of €972 million. Until the assessment is carried out it will not be known whether or not Ireland will qualify for the funding, but given the extent of the flooding and its short and long term consequences it is likely that Ireland will tick all the boxes.

The MEPs requested the Commissioner to establish if other sources of funding may be available.

The MEPs expressed their joint satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting and await developments.

ENDS