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

I will comment on that and I do not even need a response. One of the issues which prompted me to invite the witnesses before the committee was a person ringing my office two or three weeks ago. The person was looking to change insurance company, which is becoming more difficult with property insurance, as if one is without insurance, it is almost impossible to get back into it with some cases. People are trying to hang on to policies. Nevertheless, the person in question was shopping around. A series of questions was asked, including whether a claim was made in the past seven years. The person indicated that a claim had been made and significant underpinning was done on the property to deal with subsidence. This work should mean the property was invulnerable to subsidence but the insurance company in question did not offer a quotation because of the history of subsidence on the site, although remedial work had been completed.

This process does not make sense. The property has had remedial work done. It may have been a "no-brainer" for the insurance company at a business level because there was no risk involved, with the remedial work already done. As a result of "geozoning" - being in a particular region - somebody seeking insurance is blown out of the water in trying to get a fair deal from an insurance company.