Government earmarks €2m for flood-risk homeowner relocation

The Government has allocated €2 million for a “once-off” voluntary relocation scheme for homeowners affected by flooding.

Minister of State for the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief Seán Canney said the “targeted humanitarian aid scheme” was primarily for those residential properties which were flooded last winter and in previous years.

He said the Government has agreed that the terms of funding for relocation will be “in line with the previous scheme in 2009”.

A €5 million scheme was introduced in 2010 after the 2009 winter flooding – only half of which was spent.

A total of 14 households were provided with financial assistance to relocate amounting to €2.2 million, or €160,000 per household on average.

Mr Canney said on Tuesday he expected to be able to make initial contact with a “small number of targeted homeowners . . . towards the ends of this year”.

Ongoing review

Prior to this, he said he was obliged to “appraise Government of the ongoing review of the administrative arrangements from that earlier scheme”.

This was to “ensure that the arrangements for this [new] once-off scheme are reflective of its targeted objective, and all relevant circumstances”, he said in a statement on Tuesday.

While relocation was a “scheme of last resort for Government and people”, it was critical that it was aimed at those homeowners at the “greatest risk of future flooding”, he said.

“Feasible” flood-relief measures published in the 29 draft flood risk management plans would inform the appraisal, he said.

He said the annual allocation for flood defence works will more than double in the next five years from €45 million to €100 million.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, OPW and local authorities are also evaluating alternative remedial works on farm buildings at risk, for another "once-off, targeted" relocation scheme, he said.

Dutch flood experts had found Ireland’s approach to be in line with “international best practice” and “well on track”, Mr Canney said.

A strategy for improving availability of flood insurance cover is to be continued, as part of a progress report published this week by the Government’s interdepartmental group on flood policy co-ordination, Mr Canney said.