Government and MEPs must now start lobbying

Issued : Thursday 28 January, 2010

The Irish government, together with Irish MEPs, must start lobbying for the approval of Ireland's flood funding application.

"The Irish government, together with Irish MEPs, must start lobbying for the approval of Ireland's flood funding application.

"They had a deadline of ten weeks in which they could apply and they just made it.

"As the first MEP to raise this in the Parliament over two months ago, I welcome the fact that the government have finally made the application.

"The government and MEPs must start working now to make sure this application gets approved without any complications.

"We have had masses of urban and rural areas destroyed. Family homes and businesses have been devastated, crops have been killed and the cost of the damage will be with us for a long time. The flood victims need every bit of help they can get from the government, local authorities and the EU.

"If the EU can fund some of the direct damage, it will leave the Irish government in a better position to help those people effected in the longer term.

"The government must also outline what they intend to do to make sure that serious flooding does not cause this much damage again. It may have been a once-off but the flooding episode showed how badly prepared some of our local authorities were to deal with this.

"If it gets initial approval in the Commission, I will play my part as an MEP to make sure it gets the approval of the European Parliament. I know many of the people affected personally and it would be my ambition to show how the EU can help them re-build their lives."