Overview of the flooding in Douglas Village. Picture: Eddie O’Hare

A survey is to be carried out on Cork businesses devastated by the June floods to establish what insurance cover they had.

It is hoped it will be the first step in setting up a flood fund for businesses who did not have any flood cover.
Minister Phil Hogan has asked the City and County Councils to gather information on the extent of the damage caused by the flooding to businesses on June 28.
Businesses in Glanmire, Douglas, Clonakilty and Blackpool will be included in the survey. The survey will ask the following:

• The nature of the business affected (retail, professional, etc).
• The scale of the business, in terms of turnover and number of employees.
• Whether the business was insured.
• If uninsured, the reason why.
• The nature of the damage caused by the flood and extent of the monetary loss.

Letters have gone out to businesses over the past two days and the Minister wants a response by next Friday.
“What is required is a general picture of the overall impact of the flooding on businesses in the functional area of the County Council, not necessarily a complete account of every business affected,” the letter to the County Manager states. A similar letter was sent to the city manager.
Based on the survey Minister Hogan will decide whether to provide financial assistance for affected businesses. Minister Simon Coveney said the survey was the first step in a process towards a flood fund for businesses and said he was confident financial supports would be available for those without flood cover.
Labour TD Ciarán Lynch said the impact of the flooding was catastrophic and a lot of employers had no choice but to close and lay off workers.
“For that reason, it is vital that there is no further delay in dealing with this,” he said.
However, Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath criticised the delay in providing a flood fund for businesses.
“Five weeks on from the flood and there are still dozens of businesses which are still closed.”
“This survey falls far short of the commitments given in the days following the floods,” he said.