mr president as we meet here in strasbourg half the population of the city of cork in my constituency of munster is without water in their homes and this is two thousand and nine university college cork has had to shut down for an entire week with many students in my alma mater effectively homeless
shop owners householders and farmers are facing bills running into hundreds of millions of euros after the worst flooding witnessed in living memory in cork tipperary limerick and galway in particular
following the devastating floods across central europe in two thousand and two the eu established a solidarity fund to assist member states that had suffered as a result of natural disasters from such flooding
our colleagues in the north-east of romania were the most recent recipients of such aid
the rules state that in certain circumstances where there are extraordinary regional disasters this aid can be used
i now call on president barroso and commissioner samecki to look favourably on any application received from ireland for assistance under this fund
in particular i call on the irish government to contact the commission urgently with a view to submitting an application
it is vital that the eu and parliament extend their support to various communities in ireland who are suffering horrendous damage
