Mr. Paul Kavanagh:

It could be seen to be that way but they all use different geocoding maps and have used different engineers to analyse the situation. Some companies use the same ones and some of them have changed. We would like them to work more closely with the OPW and to use the CFRAM maps. The word "cartel" is a dirty one and I do not think any of us can use it in that context. When one poses the question to the representatives of Insurance Ireland, the answer is "No, you are not getting flood cover in Fermoy". It is the same in Mallow and a list of other places I have. It is a pity Deputy O'Brien had to leave because not one house in the Lough in Cork, where the distance is 10 m, has flood cover unless it was bought when it was built in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Those people are being charged enormous sums of money. Elderly people come to us with bills of up to €1,500 for insurance they should be getting for €350. We have to tell them we can do nothing for them because they have been blanked out.

Even though people have lived in the property for 50 to 60 years and have never been flooded, they are blanked out because the insurance companies do not wish to provide cover in that area.