Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

They have worked to date. Mr. Thompson is qualifying it. He remains to be convinced about the very protocols that have been tried and tested in towns like Mallow over decades, not years. This constitutes decades of corporate memory of the local authority where staff intergenerationally has clear systems put in place in both those towns. They are typical of examples throughout the country where flood works have been carried out. Mr. Thompson still appears to be doubting those very protocols because he said that Insurance Ireland deployed staff in Storm Ophelia. I defy anybody to have gone out on the Monday of Storm Ophelia because one would not put anyone outside the door on that day. He is referring to deploying after the fact and not before the fact. There must be a greater degree of willingness on the part of Insurance Ireland to drill down further and to start talking to local authority officials. As somebody who lives in the town, the process by which one would do that is not as formal, as formulaic or as systematic as I would like. I live 100 paces from the Blackwater River and I still have not seen the evidence of this happening in real time. Mr. Thompson has stated there are two processes, one being Insurance Ireland's own working groups and the other being through the OPW process. I would bet any money that the next time there is a pending flood in Mallow, one will not see any constituent member of Insurance Ireland going down there to talk to local authority officials or taking notes on whether the demountables are working. Incidentally, they clearly are working but I guarantee there is no process in place for that.