Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I am sorry for being in and out of the meeting but I was supposed to be in the Chair of the Seanad half an hour ago so I had to get a substitute. I welcome the group and particularly those who made the journey from west Cork. I will not go into specifics but I am aware of the reality for the people in Skibbereen, Bandon and many other towns.

I will make a few brief points. I am not a member of the committee, Chairman, and I appreciate you letting me participate. My first point is for Mr. Dempsey from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I have a fear that the proposal he has made in very good faith might be seen by the Insurance Federation and the insurance industry generally as an opt-out. In other words, if somebody takes up the slack from the industry, it might say, "That is great. We will put in as little as possible". The fear is the industry will decide to opt out and let the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and others at it. Also, there is a need for a national response to this issue. The Chairman and the committee might consider whether it is worth having a more in-depth investigation or perhaps a sub-committee could examine it. I have raised this issue on three or four occasions in the Seanad and previously as a Deputy in the Dáil but I got nowhere. Mr. O'Donovan has strongly made the point that we should legislate, but I wonder if, under the Constitution, we can compel an insurance industry to do something in a free market. If we can, we should certainly explore that avenue. I would support it.

A number of other interesting points have been raised. People have mentioned the situation with regard to certification or, perhaps, a declaration of completion. However, we are wasting our time if, after significant work has been done in places such as Fermoy, Mallow and Clonmel and hopefully will be done in places such as Skibbereen, Bandon and along the Dodder bank, at severe expense for the taxpayers and it is highly unlikely that there will be more flooding there again, the insurance companies simply respond that geocoding shows it was historically a flood plain so they will not cover them. I do not know how we could overcome that. It would be a disaster if, after all the money spent and all the work done by the last Government and the current one on trying to resolve the flooding issue, we still faced the problem that properties are uninsurable. The geocoding issue should be hit on the head, sooner rather than later. The town I am from had flooding historically, primarily tidal flooding. It is in a basin on the side of a hill, and probably 90% of the individual housing and business would be above the level of any flooding. If 20 properties in Bantry, Skibbereen or Bandon got flooded, with geocoding the rest of the properties will be tarred with the same brush, even though they are 100 ft. or 200 ft. above sea level.

I appreciate the efforts of the witnesses and acknowledge the tremendous work they do, in a voluntary capacity. I am aware of that tremendous work from the Skibbereen flood committee and particularly the Bandon Flood Group. They give significant support and they are giving those of us in public life a major impetus to react to the problems they are dealing with. However, I have deep concerns and I look forward to representatives of the Insurance Federation appearing before the committee.

Basically, it claims that this is not its baby and that it does not want to adopt it.