Senator calls for “wide-scale financial package” to aid flood affected areas in north Louth

Louth senator John McGahon has called for a “wide-scale financial package” to aid areas in north Louth affected by recent flooding.

Speaking in the Seanad on Tuesday, Senator McGahon said that Louth County Council has applied for €2 million from the Government to deal with many of the issues that have incurred in respect of roads and infrastructure.

However, Senator McGahon raised concerns that the €2 million will just cover public roads. 

He said: “There is a huge number of private roads throughout north Louth that are not maintained by the council that have been completely washed away and are impassible. 

“It has been said that we may need to look at asking for more money for a local improvement scheme, LIS, or a community involvement scheme, CIS, later in the year. I do not think we can take this bit-by-bit approach to something like this. 

“When something like this happens in any part or area of this country, the Government is clear in its commitment that we are willing to put money back into those communities to get them straight back up to the standard they were prior to any sort of flooding, whether it is through the humanitarian scheme, business schemes or providing money to a local authority to get the infrastructure back up and running.”

He further said that it  should not be the case that the local authority turns around and states it will only ask for money for a certain number of projects. 

He Continued: “This has to be a wide-scale financial package that goes into north Louth to get it back to where it was. It cannot be the case that we pick some roads and not others.”

The senator also sought clarification from the Minister for Agriculture regarding a potential scheme for farmers to compensate them for damage caused to their land.