Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I welcome the fact that within two months, we hope to conclude those discussions with the insurance industry. It will come as a relief if we can get a positive outcome for those businesses and home owners who, through no fault of their own, find themselves unable to get insurance. That would certainly be a very welcome development and I wish the Minister of State the best of luck with that.

Do the discussions with the European Investment Bank relate to flood relief assistance or are we looking at discussions in respect of getting capital funding to help with flood defences? The Tánaiste also mentioned that the threshold for getting assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund is set very high. In a reply to a recent parliamentary question, the Tánaiste said we would be looking at damage of up to around €700 million to qualify. I hope we would never see that level of devastation as a result of weather conditions. It is very unlikely we would ever qualify for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund because of the very high bar that has been set. Is it a commitment from this Government to try to have discussions on the possibility of changing the criteria to lower the bar in order that in the event of future flooding, this State would be able to get some assistance for immediate flood relief? Is that part of the ongoing discussions with the European Commission in which the Tánaiste is currently involved?

See this speech in context