Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about a process of accreditation that exists in other jurisdictions, with which insurance companies operating in Ireland, such as Zurich, and others in Germany comply. It would mean that when the Office of Public Works or local authorities carry out accredited engineering, remedial or flood-prevention works in those areas, the insurance company would be compelled to buy into it.

The difficulty in Ireland is that this is even bad for the insurance sector. Households and businesses where works have been carried out are low-risk enterprises for the insurance sector, yet the sector has locked itself out of them. In fact, this is a devouring process and it is a race to the bottom that is in no-one's interest.

If we have a memorandum of understanding that does not have teeth, it will not have bite. I hope, and want the Minister of State to confirm, that we are not giving guidelines to the insurance sector because it has not adhered to guidelines to date. What they need is specific instruction, and if needs be, we then need to regulate. I am not saying that the insurance companies must be exposed to adverse risk. What I am saying is that in areas where the State has spent tens of millions of euro on rectifying works ensuring that these risks are removed and where the insurance company is still refusing to insure businesses and households, a process should be put in place where the insurance company must be brought to the table to give people insurance cover at an appropriate price.

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