Mr. Enda O'Donovan:

On the issues raised by Deputy Humphreys, certification and protocols go hand in hand. It is vital that there is a certification process which leads to protocols that the insurance industry should follow. If the insurance industry will not do that voluntarily, I urge and beg the committee to legislate. We cannot wait ten years. Some areas will be sorted out sooner than others, but we are talking about the entire country. The Deputy asked about figures. The Irish Insurance Federation, IIF, says that 2% is not covered. If one looks at other information it has, that equates to 38,000. I do not know where it got the 10,000 figure. The Irish Insurance Brokers Association maintains that 50,000 are uninsured. Being uninsured has nothing to do with flooding, and the figures for flooding could be as low as less than 20,000. The insurance industry, using geocoding, has decided not to insure in vast swathes of ground. There is thought and analysis behind the figure of 50,000. Certification and protocols must go hand in hand, and the Members of the Oireachtas must lead on that. I cannot put it plainer than that.

I have more or less answered the question on geocoding. Time slippage is up to the OPW. It must lead and manage that. It is the big issue for all of us. In many respects we have a great deal of time for gentlemen such as Tony Smith and Michael Collins, who are wonderful at their jobs. They have a fierce interest and know their stuff. We have no problem with the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. The time slippage is invariably due to the consultants who are being brought in to do certain jobs. Only a handful of consultants are ever used. There is only a handful who are expert enough to be used. There is time slippage all the time, and it is huge time slippage. That is why we have to put this proposal for a pilot scheme. We cannot wait for the OPW and I cannot stress that enough. We cannot wait because we have nothing left to survive another flooding event.