Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps also Mr. Kemp would ask the federation's members to review that practice, in particular given the economic circumstances of the country and in light of enactment of the insolvency legislation in the coming months.

I would like now to revert to the substantive issue of geocoding. Yesterday a businessman in Douglas was informed that owing to recent flooding in the area, he would not be able to get insurance cover into the future. Hundreds of millions of euros of taxpayers' money has been spent over the years by successive Governments on putting flood protections in place, which has resulted in a lowering of risk to the benefit of the insurance industry. The insurance industry has not contributed one cent to lowering that risk. The question that arises is how much the industry saves as a result of every euro of taxpayers' money spent in this regard.

Paragraph 13 of the federation's submission lists nine specific recommendations, all of which are worthy. However, what action will be taken by the Irish Insurance Federation? The witnesses have advocated for swifter completion of structure defences, a more co-ordinated action plan from the OPW and so on. If all the nine recommendations were implemented tomorrow, what could we expect in return from the federation? In my opinion, there is a need for re-examination by it of the practice in regard to geocoding. Households and businesses need to be able to remove themselves from it. Also, business owners such as the one in Douglas who was informed he could not get flood insurance into the future need to be told what actions they need to take for them to get insurance. What type of remedial action, if taken, would facilitate them getting insurance into the future?

Non-provision of insurance cover could result in the closure of businesses. Profit margins are so tight businesses cannot take the hit in a flood in terms of the destruction of €20,000 worth of stock, never mind the cost of refurbishing the premises. Business owners need to be told by Insurance Industry Federation members what they need to do to facilitate their getting insurance cover. I would welcome some recommendations from the federation in this regard. There are options. The business owner referred to is locked out from obtaining insurance.

Can we put in place an interim measure where insurance would be provided, although with an excess, so the first €5,000 or €10,000 in damage may not be covered? Deputy Corcoran Kennedy mentioned climate change and this is another example of how the industry should be more innovative and modernise its thinking. It must formulate solutions that are no longer based on a blanket insurance approach but rather target certain areas. In particular, the industry must respond on a business level to the type of State intervention suggested in paragraph 13.