Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted the Minister of State in a very tardy fashion is implementing this fully. I know the Minister for Finance has said he would not provide direct insurance from the State, which was our policy to which the Minister of State referred when he mentioned the decision we made. Our decision was quite clear and was to interact with the insurance industry exactly as the Minister of State is doing. My problem is that what should have taken two months has taken the Government virtually a year. It is now almost two years since this flood event. It has taken since December. A general election intervened in the January and February period. The Government came into power in March and it took until July to implement the Government decision to meet the Irish Insurance Federation and implement our decision.

When does the Minister of State believe he will bring the process we introduced to a conclusion? What is his intention in the event of the insurance companies not playing ball? We believed we would resolve it in the way the Government is trying to resolve it. We believe that with the energy we had we would have done it by now. Why has it taken the Government so long?

It is not a laughing matter.

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