Peter Burke
Longford-Westmeath · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I thank Deputy Ó Broin for raising this important matter. I cannot imagine the trauma many families are going through right now as a result of the conclusion of An Coimisiún Pleanála on this file. This was a dark time in our past.”
“I thank Deputy Nash for his question on this very important issue. I will say clearly and unambiguously that I share his concerns in relation to ensuring that no product produced in Ireland ends up in the Russian military complex. We are very firm in that belief.”
“I have heard suggestions in some outlets that the Irish Government was in that company's corner at key European forums. That is not true. The European Commission has brought forward 20 sanctions packages and Ireland has supported them all 100%. It is very important to put that on the record.”
“I thank Deputy Wall for his very important intervention. I heard part of the interview this morning, which was exceptional and very courageous, showing leadership in an area which affects so many people in our society. I know the Minister for Health is supportive of the Deputy's initiative and remains so.”
“We have enacted the Family Courts Bill, establishing a dedicated family court to look at very sensitive items for victims. We have introduced an offence for non-fatal strangulation, reflecting the seriousness of the abuse and the stress and harm it causes.”
“I thank Deputy Murphy for being proactive and bringing forward a solution to try to operationalise a group of the Oireachtas and showing leadership to do that for Tipperary. I will absolutely bring that to the attention of the Minister for justice, particularly considering the cross-party aspect.”
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“In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, we are establishing a scheme. Specifically for this event, we need to be clear that the first recourse for businesses is through their insurance to cover them for damage, loss of earnings and spoilage of stock. That is the critical way in which they seek recourse. It is very different from flood damage where businesses could not get insurance. That is a very different scenario. We are establishing a scheme. I also point out that, regarding the statutory deadlines businesses face through the CRO and the Revenue Commissioners, we have worked to ensure there is significant leeway for businesses if they fail to meet their regulatory requirements at this time. For the key impacted areas, as I have said, the Department of agriculture has stepped up with a scheme for horticulture.”
“This week Uisce Éireann will get 100 generators to future-proof for such events. The country needs to learn how we respond in future to a very significant event like this. We need to accept there were gaps in the response. Following the investment that went into rural areas through many schemes, there was an exceptional response and communities really rose to the challenge.”
“I thank the Deputy for her response. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine has announced a scheme for investment in the horticulture sector, which has been very significantly impacted. I was very quick to contact the insurance federation to get assurances that businesses affected would be covered regarding their standard practice. While I cannot go into the detail of individual policies regarding excess because they are very different, I can assure people that, in the general course of action and insurance peril, it is part standard insurance cover. Regarding communications, I have been on to the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan. We are very concerned about getting businesses and first responders which suffered outages at that time back up and running. We have a lot of work to do in that regard.”
“The programme for Government includes a commitment to an extreme weather event assistance scheme, which we are working on establishing.”
“I welcome that Insurance Ireland has said that house insurance premiums, for example, are not generally impacted by one event such as this storm, but rather on a range of many different rating factors and insured perils. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has in the past operated targeted emergency humanitarian flood relief schemes in response to specific flooding incidents. These schemes are specifically targeted at providing a contribution to small businesses of up to 20 employees as well as community, voluntary and sporting bodies which have experienced damage as a result of flooding and to help them get back up and running. A condition of eligibility for these schemes is that the businesses must not have been able to secure flood insurance through no fault of their own.”
“Following the immediate damage caused by the storm, many businesses have been impacted by outages of power, water and communications networks. With regard the issue of potential schemes to support businesses with losses arising from Storm Éowyn, in the first instance I encourage businesses to seek recourse through their insurance providers to cover losses they have incurred. I have been engaging directly with the insurance federation and my clear understanding is most losses incurred by businesses, such as property damage, loss of earnings and spoilage of stock, fall within standard insurance cover and the damage caused by the storm is a standard insured peril for insurance policies.”
“I wish Deputy Conway-Walsh the very best of luck in her role as spokesperson. I look forward to working with her. I had a very good relationship with her predecessor, Deputy O'Reilly. The Ministers of State, Deputies Smyth and Dillon, and I look forward to delivering the programme for Government in the years ahead. I am acutely aware of the significant challenges the impacts of Storm Éowyn have caused for business owners over recent weeks. Since 24 January, I have been closely monitoring the situation with Storm Éowyn and its impacts on the business community through regular updates from the national emergency co-ordination group and updates from local enterprise offices in the counties with the most significant and prolonged impacts.”
“Over recent days, a number of businesses have highlighted to me that they see a huge role for the Government in the possible provision of financial support for emergency generators. While I am not in a position to share specific details, I will be exploring appropriate responses that the Government will take and that can assist to build additional resilience and capacity in the business sector over the period ahead.”
“In that regard, and while recognising that we are still within the emergency response phase and restoration works are ongoing, it will be appropriate over the coming weeks that the Government work with business and community stakeholders to consider the additional steps we collectively need to take to build further resilience as regards our power, water and communications infrastructure, as well as a focus on further strengthening of the emergency response led by the Government. I will be taking a particular interest in supporting this work, actively working with the business sector to identify opportunities for further resilience-building in our critical infrastructure.”
“In particular, there has been a huge demand for e-working centres, which have facilitated many local people to continue to have the access to the connectivity required to do their jobs. At a national level, too, I want to recognise the support from the business community. A manifestation of this practical support has included a generous and rapid response from private companies, in reaction to a specific appeal from the national emergency coordination group, in making their stocks of electrical generators available to ESB Networks, Uisce Éireann and the telecoms sector. The timely provision of this extra generation capacity has been pivotal in adding resilience to local infrastructure, with some capacity being utilised this week, enabling a number of schools in rural areas to reopen.”
“Finally, it is also important to recognise that businesses and local businesspeople have a very strong connection and commitment to their local communities, and businesses have responded with enormous generosity, community spirit and agility to the recent emergencies. As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I pay particular tribute to the massive contribution to the local emergency hubs and the broader national response which have been made by the business community. You only have to look at the maps published by the Government highlighting the enormous number of locations where emergency hubs have been stood up to see the contribution from businesses in supporting their local communities.”
“Revenue will work with those taxpayers and businesses that have been adversely impacted by Storm Éowyn to ensure that good compliance records can remain on track despite the disruption caused. The Companies Registration Office has also been aware that certain areas of the country continue to be significantly impacted by power and communications outages caused by Storm Éowyn. As a result, some companies have encountered difficulties when filing their annual returns with the Companies Registration Office. If the person presenting company filings is in an area that has been affected by the power or communications outages caused by Storm Éowyn, they are advised to contact the Companies Registration Office, and officials there will assist the impacted businesses.”
“My Department recognises that businesses may have had recent challenges in addressing filing and compliance obligations. Given the impact of Storm Éowyn, it is entirely appropriate to adopt a flexible, responsive and pragmatic approach to ensure that businesses and companies are not adversely affected by or penalised for the disruption to their normal filing and compliance activities arising from Storm Éowyn. While all public bodies are naturally taking a flexible and sensitive approach, it is useful to highlight two specific agencies I have engaged with that may be of particular relevance to the business sector. The Revenue Commissioners have been fully aware that the exceptional weather events have caused difficulties for many and understand that this disruption can impact timely tax compliance.”
“In this regard, my officials have been engaging with their counterparts to progress this as a matter of urgency. I believe that the broad aim should be to strengthen the existing humanitarian assistance schemes already in place, including those operated by the Department of Social Protection for households, the specific flooding supports for small businesses, sports clubs and voluntary organisations administered through my Department, and the parallel schemes operated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Consideration must be given to how small businesses can be supported in advance of major storms to mitigate damage caused. In this regard, I look forward to being in a position to share with my Government colleagues some more detail on the extreme weather assistance scheme in the future.”
“I welcome that the insurance industry has proactively sought through its media engagement over recent days to reassure both householders and businesses that it views impacts from Storm Éowyn as within the scope of insurance, which are therefore fully covered for both householders and businesses. It is very relevant to highlight at this juncture that the programme for Government includes a specific commitment to introduce an extreme weather assistance scheme. This initiative predates Storm Éowyn and is a strategic policy action for delivery within the timeframe of the current Government. However, it is the case that the unprecedented impacts of Storm Éowyn mean that this initiative needs to be a high priority for the Departments involved.”
“Voluntary bodies and sports clubs have also been included and will be able to access the scheme. I have engaged directly with the insurance sector, which is critical, and it is my understanding that in the vast majority of cases the primary impacts arising for businesses should, in the normal course, be covered by the insurance that a business will have taken out to cover the risks associated with a major storm. This should be the first and primary recourse for businesses that have incurred financial losses as a result of Storm Éowyn, very significant losses in some cases.”
“Finally, we need to be cognisant that our farms are businesses too and Storm Éowyn has given rise to significant animal welfare challenges as well as unprecedented damage within the agriculture and horticulture sector to farm buildings, fencing, polytunnels and trees which will take considerable work to repair. Members will no doubt be aware that on previous occasions my Department has worked with local authorities and the Irish Red Cross to put in place a humanitarian flood relief scheme where small businesses had flood damage which was not covered by insurance. To recap, these schemes have generally been quite narrow in their scope, with eligibility limited to small businesses of fewer than 20 employees, with the scheme only being applicable for flood damage where the business had been unable to secure commercial flood insurance.”
“Some businesses have lost significant stock either through premises damage or through spoilage, and sometimes this has arisen because of a loss of electrical power in the business premises or because the businesses in question were unable to deliver their produce to customers in time. There has also been widespread disruption to trading, with many businesses unable to open or facing significant challenges due to power, water or communications impacts arising from Storm Éowyn. It is clear that, associated with the foregoing impacts, there will be loss of earnings or, indeed, the need to incur unexpected expenditures to respond to the impact of the storm, including the cost of repairs or temporary use of electrical generators.”
“I am acutely aware, however, that for a subset of businesses, issues such as access to power and to communications continue to have a disruptive impact on their operations and their livelihoods. I put on record my appreciation for all of the first responders working in very difficult circumstances to support all of our communities. Specific ongoing challenges that local enterprise offices in the most impacted counties have highlighted to me since the start of the storm have included structural damage to business premises, including a number of buildings which have had their roofs completely torn off or have been damaged by fallen trees.”
“As Minister with responsibility for enterprise, tourism and employment, I am acutely aware that the period since Storm Éowyn hit on Friday 24 January has been a hugely disruptive and worrying time for householders but also for business owners, who have been extremely concerned about the impacts on their businesses, their livelihoods, their customers, their staff and their communities. I recognise that many businesses will have had a significant storm impacts and disruption to their operations over the past 12 days. I have spoken to many business owners directly who have suffered significant damage. Thankfully, for most businesses, the worst impacts have now passed and they have returned to business.”