Mr. Jer Buckley:

I would suggest that there are two ways in which we could do it. Let me pre-empt my remarks by saying it is not easy to get data on whether somebody has flood cover. Nobody who owns a home or a business wants to say he or she is financially weak or vulnerable. If we ask whether there is household flood cover, we may not get an answer to the question. One ways that the Government could gather the data is through the Central Statistics Office, CSO. The CSO is a reputable organisation and has a long and proven track record and history of gathering data, and there is legislation that gives it the powers to collect the data properly. This is one way this could be done.

The former Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Seán Canney, was the first Minister to insist that Insurance Ireland meet the Office of Public Works, OPW, more regularly and not just once a year. I believe it is far more frequent than that now. Under the memorandum of understanding, could we reverse the cart and tell Insurance Ireland that we are not interested in where it is providing flood insurance cover, but would like an answer as to where it is not providing insurance cover? We must put the pressure back on the insurance companies to come up with the data as to where they are not providing insurance cover, because Insurance Ireland would know where the insurance cover is not being provided. If there is to be an open, frank and honest exchange of information, we could reverse the question and find out where insurance cover is not provided, because it knows but it is not sharing that information.