Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

He is Minister for the incinerator. A significant number of households and businesses in Cork were destroyed or severely damaged by flooding last week. Many of the businesses affected are not insured because of their location. It was too expensive for some to take out insurance while others were not quoted at all, particularly in the heart of Cork city and Carrigaline. The Minister of State was on radio discussing this issue earlier and he correctly informed people about what is happening. How much compensation is available to households and businesses? What are the criteria? How can people apply? How long must they wait before they get it? What plans has the Government to put funds and strategies in place to ensure the likelihood of such carnage is reduced in future? The flooding in Carrigaline, which the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, will know well, mirrors the flooding of four years ago. Engineering solutions to the problems have been put on the long finger because the necessary grant aid from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is not forthcoming in order to move forward schemes such as the Cork harbour main drainage scheme that affects areas like Carrigaline. The housing estate of Mount Rivers had between 30 and 35 houses under five or six feet of water at certain times during the flooding. We must ensure that everything possible is done to minimise the chance of that happening in the future. Generous and swift relief must be provided for people who do not have insurance cover for the damage caused. Some areas will not be provided with insurance cover in the future. Insurance companies have informed householders that they will be covered on this occasion but not in the future. The State needs to step in when instances such as these occur. The State has allowed development to proceed and this has added to the engineering problems that resulted in the flooding of last week.

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