Aideen Hayden (Labour)
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I will conclude by making a comment more than anything else. While I do not have any statistics on this, it is my experience that premiums overall in this country went up considerably in the past 12 months. One point to bear in mind is the idea raised earlier of a levy on all insurance policies to protect areas where it is particularly difficult to get insurance. We must bear in mind that this is already part of the lexicon here in that all insurers in the country are currently paying for the failure of Quinn Insurance, so it is not something we should rule out. It is also important to make the point that a lot of the flooding that happens in the country happens because previous administrations, planning bodies and so on allowed building on flood plains that should never have been permitted. There is a State responsibility for insurance. I would ask the Chair that some of these points, particularly in regard to the models that are pursued in other countries, be brought to the attention of the relevant Minister, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.