Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McDonnell for his contribution. I have several questions. Mr. McDonnell mentioned there are between 2,000 and 3,000 thatched cottages in the Republic. To go back to the 2005 report, and taking it from what the witnesses have said that there has been little or no action on that, the executive summary at action 5 stated that a centralised database should be established. I assume that has not been done and Mr. McDonnell might confirm if that is the case. Therefore, from 2005 to today, there has been no real way of assessing or quantifying how many thatched roofs we have already lost. To go back to the earlier point, not every thatched roof property is listed and, therefore, they are not listed there either. Mr. McDonnell might answer on that.

I have two further questions. Senator Warfield referred to farms getting insurance if there is a thatched property on a farm. I presume that is what Mr. Darby is talking about in his opening statement when he referred to commercial-type insurance.