Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A cursory glance over the records of this House shows that this issue has been raised on an increasing number of occasions, and it has been raised many times in the past 12 months. Regrettably, the responses have not changed a great deal since early last year. That is a poor consolation and comfort to the people I represent in west Cork where there is a high concentration of people who cannot get insurance in towns such as Skibbereen, Bandon and Clonakilty and villages such as Rathbarry, Ballinascarty and Manch. These places experienced flooding over recent years.

The Minister referred to a cost of €70 million per year. I am referring to a solidarity levy shared by the approximately 2 million homes which were enumerated in the 2011 census. That would mean, at the most, between €30 and €35 per annum being contributed by each household as a solidarity tax. I do not believe it would require anything approaching the figure of €700 million to €800 million that has been paid out over the last ten years. When divided by ten, that figure is approximately €70 million per year. The figure I have in mind is €20 per household, and I believe people would contribute it. That would create a sufficiently strong fund. However, leadership is required. I call on the Government to get together with the industry. This has been done in the United States and there is no reason that it cannot work here. We just need the will to achieve it.

The representatives of the 98% of people who have flood insurance are fortunate enough not to be as anxious about this issue as those of us who represent the other 2%. The 2% is a tiny minority, but they are people. They live in houses that cannot be sold, they cannot move to other areas, they cannot upgrade or downgrade and they cannot get a mortgage because the banks will not give them one. These are real issues for real people about their homes. I plead with the Government to take leadership on this issue and make progress on it.

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