Ms Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich:

Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich is my name. I live in Dodder View Cottages in Ballsbridge. I am here on behalf of the residents of Dodder View, Ballsbridge Avenue and Beatty’s Avenue. We were extensively flooded in October 2011. People lost their lives during the flood, but not in Ballsbridge. A nurse died in Ranelagh and a garda in County Wicklow who was trying to divert people from a swollen river. I was in the same place in 1986 when Hurricane Charley hit. I got insurance that time from whatever company I was with. I lost my house and my car, and so did all my neighbours. Many of us were out of our homes for six months. There was the trauma of losing one’s home and one’s transport but the biggest trauma of all was dealing with the insurance companies. They were absolutely appalling. They inferred that I was a serial claimant; that it was my fault that the flood came in and ruined my house and car. They doubled my premium and refused flood cover. As a previous speaker said, one shops around and other companies say “No” and do not touch one so one has to stay with the insurance company one was with. I had a Jeep that I had bought a couple of years previously for €22,000. They gave me €7,000 for it after I had fought them for weeks. They were absolutely appalling. Everybody is in the same situation. We look at the Dodder every day and pray to Buddha or whoever is up there to help to make sure the flood does not come in again up our stairs. We have been promised by Dublin City Council and the OPW that they will build a flood wall. Some of the wall has been built down near the posh apartments but the red brick cottages in Ballsbridge are still waiting for the wall, which is dependent on planning permission. We were promised that something would be done at the beginning of the year but nothing has been done.

We quake in our boots and look at our daughter and pray every night before going to sleep. On top of everything that has happened, the Revenue is valuing our houses for property tax purposes at either €650,000 or €700,000. If they were to offer us this sum for our homes, we would all take it and leave. That is all I can say.