Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Silke and his delegation. It is not the first time they have come before the committee to discuss this issue. The lack of progress since it was last discussed makes this an opportune time to raise it, which is the purpose of the committee meeting, and the Chairman laid out the matters for discussion. The response given by Mr. Silke is very stark and shocking to those unaware of the situation. Most committee members are aware of it.

It is obvious that no insurance company would touch the region as it stands because it would not be at all profitable. It is only when a mechanism is put in place to rectify the situation or seek to rectify it that one may consider the possibility of insurance. Listening to the presentation, what jumps out at us is that many farmers are ruined, bankrupt, in crisis and despairing. Insurance is not an issue for these people. There has been no compensation and no Government fodder scheme to deal with the crisis and the despair being felt.

We raised this issue as far back as last June on Leaders' Questions and as Topical Issue matters. This led to an Oireachtas joint committee consulting a wide variety of bodies and making recommendations. We believed legislation might flow from the report. The progressive recommendations made are similar to and in agreement with those of the delegation with regard to the OPW taking the lead in managing the Shannon, the introduction of early flood warning systems and utilising boglands as flood plains. We had hoped the next stage would be to debate the report on the floor of the House and have a response issued by the Ministers with responsibility in this regard, including the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes. This may have allowed the Government to put in train a series of measures to seek to address the issue.

I do not wish to be party political, and I acknowledge what was said about successive Governments, but in recent years it has become very much a summer flooding issue. It is a regular occurrence. What happened in 2009 was thought to be an exception but it also happened last year. Unless a concerted effort is made on foot of the recommendations from the delegation and the Oireachtas joint committee, we will see a wasteland developing, and those who wish to do so can preserve it all they like afterwards because there will be no interference with it. This is with regard to what Mr. Silke stated about islands emerging in the floods.

With the best will in the world the committee and its Chairman saw fit to address an issue pertaining to the insurance industry and its response to flooding. The IFA in its wisdom saw fit to bring a group which represents an area with a huge amount of flooding. I do not necessarily want to look at this from a national perspective. The immediate pressure and significance of the Shannon callows is what is paramount. I have sought to impress publicly the need for the report, the recommendations of which I support, to be brought to the floor of the House, for a formal response to be made by the Government and for efforts to be made to have the report's recommendations implemented, or at least a working committee put in place to report back to the committee thereafter to acknowledge what progress, if any, can be made on the recommendations. I know it has the full support of and commitment from all committee members, having produced the report under the chairmanship of Deputy Corcoran Kennedy.

As far as the committee is concerned, Mr. Silke is pushing an open door. I hope it will be reciprocated by the Government and the Ministers with responsibility in the area showing a willingness to bring about change and recognise the gravity of the situation, which is absolutely and despairingly ridiculous at this stage. I ask the Chairman to use his influence in so far as he can, whether through the Whips or his association with the Government, to bring this to the floor of the House. Perhaps a Friday sitting could be used for a response to be put on the record and for a process to be put in place by which we can seek to effect change and put in place the recommendations which have universal approval. It would be different if we were all coming at this from different angles and with different ideas. I know financing will be put forward as an issue and an impediment, as will the vested interests of the ESB, but a protocol can be agreed in the public interest and public good to protect not only the livelihoods of those affected but also the commercial viability of the entire region. I look forward to progress in this regard.