TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said flood relief payments are to increase following the damage caused by Storm Chandra.

The news comes as homes in the East and Southeast of the country continue to be impacted by flooding, clean up operations are underway.

Harris made the comments to reporters in Croatia, where he is currently visiting to discuss the bilateral relationship between the country and Ireland.

He said relief limits are sometimes “too low”. 

He said the decision was made last night that the amount of money people impacted can apply for will be raised.

“We are responding in real time with financial assistance. I think people want that. I think people expect it. I think that’s absolutely right,” he said.

The Minister for Finance went on to say that “it’s not just about writing cheques after the flood”, adding that people also want to know what the government will do to prevent flooding.

“We’ve seen a lot of good flood relief skills put in place that have made a huge difference, but there are too many towns that many are waiting too long, and Enniscorthy is the obvious example this time,” he said.

Enniscorthy in Co Wexford, a town which has experienced significant flooding damage many times, was badly impacted by flooding again this week. There is a long-running dispute over Enniscorthy’s flood defences.

Harris said a cabinet committee meeting on floods will be held next week, which he hopes will discuss flood forecasting and increasing the speed of responses.

The Tánaiste was asked about Housing Minister James Browne’s comments this week which suggested Met Éireann ‘guarded’ information and should change how it issues warnings.

Harris said that while Met Éireann does a “brilliant job”, more information shared with the public in relation to flooding would be helpful.

Ireland’s Meteorological Service came in for some criticism this week after locals in parts of Dublin experienced severe flooding this week but had little time to prepare as, although a wind warning was issued, a rain warning wasn’t.

Meanwhile, warnings issued for other counties did not detail the potential disastrous impacts of Storm Chandra.

Met Éireann said it was the volume of rain that fell in the weeks leading up to the storm, combined with where and how Chandra tracked, that pushed rivers beyond their limits.

Harris said: “The more information we can put into the public domain in relation to flood forecasting and information about river levels alongside rain warnings would be very, very helpful”.

“If we learned anything over the last few days, a relatively small amount of rain can actually cause very significant damage when the river is high. A higher amount of rain can actually cause less damage if the river is low.”

He also suggested that more detail could be added to the different levels of Ireland’s weather warning system to better prepare the public.

“We hear so many different warnings that sometimes yellow can sound more benign than it actually is. Similarly, an orange wind warning can cause very significant dangers in terms of transport at certain times,” he said.

“It’s not as simple anymore as yellow, orange and red. I think that’s the learning. There’s a context to each storm. There’s a context to each potential flooding event.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t believe Met Éireann was holding information back, adding that the national forecaster is “giving the public the best information that they believe is robust and that they can stand over”.

With reporting from Christina Finn.