2 February 2016
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
West Cork TD Michael McCarthy (Labour) has welcomed an announcement today that the criteria for the emergency humanitarian support scheme administered by the Irish Red Cross will be expanded to small businesses affected by recent flooding.
In establishing the scheme, the nature of the emergency response required an immediate payment to be made to the applicant to allow the business to recover quickly and continue trading. This was done on verification by the relevant local authority that the business was flooded and was trading in a premises subject to commercial rates. This restriction excluded a very small number of businesses who were trading at the time of the flood and suffered flood damage to their premises but were not in occupation of rateable premises from receiving a contribution under the scheme.
Now in the case of businesses which are not in a premises subject to commercial rates, the applicant can supply a tax clearance certificate to the Irish Red Cross, or where this is not available, recent correspondence from Revenue showing a tax registration number.
In welcoming the decision, Deputy McCarthy said, “I welcome the extension of this scheme and I hope that it will go some way towards alleviating the hardship suffered by small businesses adversely affected by flooding. I have seen at first hand the effects of the December storms and the costs that businesses incurred in order to get back up and trading.
“That is why I have been working closely with my colleague the Minister for Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin TD, to ensure the progress of local flood relief schemes such as Skibbereen, Bandon and Clonakilty. And I was delighted to have been able to deliver good news to the people of Skibbereen last week.
The closing date for acceptance of completed application forms has been extended to 21 February 2016.