Mr. Enda O'Donovan:

We have asked Revenue for such interaction but have not received a direct response, other than the introduction of the aforementioned acknowledgement. Members may have noticed it was actually brought in within the past three weeks or month. It was first mentioned on 21 February when Josephine Feehily acknowledged the issue. It is encouraging that the Revenue Commissioners acknowledge what a big issue it is.

The Irish National Flood Forum has had discussions with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, Deputy Brian Hayes. Moreover, we acknowledge the good work the OPW is doing. Its staff members are experts and include hydrologists and it is good with regard to flooding. However, for some reason, it has not been able to get anywhere with the insurance industry. This is the reason we make the point that all representatives of the insurance industry appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet in what ostensibly is a competitive industry. When the Irish Insurance Federation, IIF, next appears before this joint committee in a month's time or whatever, members will find its representatives are very good at saying "No" on behalf of the insurance industry. However, one will never find such representatives saying "Yes" on behalf of the industry. Instead, they will state it is an individual decision for each insurance provider. It would be helpful were the IIF a sufficiently strong body that actually represented and could speak for the insurance industry. However, its representatives do not and it is a divide and conquer situation, using the IIF. It cannot speak for the Irish insurance industry because were one to ask a question of it, its response would be the matter in question was a decision for each individual provider. This is another huge problem because getting protocols in place means that at present, one must deal with all the providers rather than one body, which makes matters more difficult.