The Emergency Response Payment is now available for people living in properties directly affected by Storm Chandra in Co. Wexford following severe weather conditions.

Formerly called the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, the Emergency Response Payment aims to prevent hardship by providing income-tested financial support, the Department of Social Protection said.

Support is provided for people whose homes are damaged from flooding and severe weather events and who are unable to meet emergency costs for essential needs, household items and structural repair.

The scheme does not provide a general compensation payment for damage or losses incurred as a consequence of a weather event, nor does it cover damage or losses that are insured under home insurance policies or would reasonably be expected to have been covered by an insurance policy.

The scheme does not cover commercial, agricultural, or business losses.

Exceptional costs

It is available as a support for households which experience unanticipated and exceptional costs in the immediate aftermath of an extreme weather event.

In dealing with emergency events, the department generally adopts a three-stage approach, it said.

Stage one of the scheme is to address hardship in the immediate aftermath of emergency events and provides emergency support payments to cover immediate and essential costs such as the purchase of food, clothing, bedding and essential personal items for immediate use.

This stage is not income-tested. This support will be available from today (January 27) until Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

It does not cover the purchase of replacement food or other items.

Structural repairs

Stage two involves the replacement of white goods, basic furniture items and other essential household items.

There must be a valid reason why these were not covered by insurance and the person must be able to demonstrate that it is essential that the items are replaced and that they do not have the financial resources to cover these costs themselves.

Stage three covers costs of essential structural repairs to a person’s primary residence where the person does not have the resources to cover the costs involved.

The type of repairs includes plastering, dry-lining, relaying of floors, electrical re-wiring and painting.

These costs are only covered if they are essential, result directly from damage caused by the emergency event and there are valid reasons as to why household insurance was not in place.

All costs are subject to expert assessment by a loss adjuster.

Income testing does apply to stages two and three of the scheme.

Level of payment

The Department of Social Protection said income test for the Emergency Response Payment is more generous than that applied under means-tested social welfare payments in general.

The scheme does not cover loss of items deemed to be inessential or luxury items, structural loss or damage to rented accommodation, any additional properties that are not occupied and lived in as the primary residence, and repair or replacement of motor vehicles.

Levels of payment under the scheme depend on the relative severity of damage experienced and the household’s ability to meet these costs from their own resources.

The income limits for stages two and three of the scheme are as follows:

€50,000 for a single person;
€90,000 for a couple;
€15,000 per dependent child.