Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I will be brief. I join with my colleagues in acknowledging and thanking the emergency services in Cork City and county, the gardaí, the Army, local authority workers, Civil Defence, the Ambulance Service, the HSE, the fire service and community leaders for their tremendous efforts. The emergency response team in the city under the leadership of Mr. Joe Gavin and the director of services, Ms Valerie O'Sullivan, and in the county under the leadership of Mr. Martin Riordan, the county manager, are doing an exceptionally good job under extremely difficult circumstances. The first priority must be to restore the water supply for up to 18,000 people in Cork city, including Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and to assess the damage to homes in order that people can return to them as quickly as possible and also to assess damage to businesses.

Very soon the focus will shift to the cost of the damage which has been caused. In August 2008, flood damage amounted to €100 million in terms of insurance claims but it will be a multiple of that amount on this occasion. The response and behaviour of the insurance companies must be closely monitored in terms of dealing with claims promptly and that they do not use it as an excuse for hiking up insurance premia next year and that they do not refuse insurance cover to people next year who have been affected by floods this year. The focus will shift very quickly on to those key issues and we have to ensure that is dealt with and that people have the right to report any anomalies in terms of the processing of insurance claims to the financial services ombudsman.

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