Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I want to focus on the cost of insurance, the problem of insurance for people living in areas that are at flood risk and for victims of flooding, and the cost of motor insurance. Over the past year in particular, insurance companies in this country have acted with impunity and rode roughshod over people. They have shown complete disregard for victims of flooding and they continue to do that even for those who are trying to insure motor vehicles. Throughout December 2015 and into the early months of the new year, many counties throughout the country were devastated by flooding. In my constituency of County Laois, some householders living in the Mountrath, Portarlington, Ballinakill and Graiguecullen areas were particularly affected by flooding. There was also flooding of large tracts of land and I want to mention it to the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. I mentioned to him here four months ago the flooding caused by the River Nore overflowing, in particular in the area of Castletown to Attanagh and the Shanahoe area. This requires a modest amount of money. Trees have fallen across the river and silt banks need to be removed. The county council has allocated around €20,000 in its budget but it needs a bit more than that. There is always flooding down there but this year thousands of acres were flooded which would not have been flooded if some drainage works had been carried out and obstructions had been removed from the river. I ask the Minister of State to come back to me on that.

To come back to insurance, for many of the people who had homes and businesses flooded, the injustice of having inadequate flood defences and drainage works was made worse by the actions of the insurance companies. In 2014, the memorandum of understanding between the OPW and industry, which the Minister referred to in his speech, was supposed to have led to greater levels of flood insurance in areas where improvements had taken place. Unfortunately, the industry's response to this has been mean with no real improvements for communities in the at-risk areas. Furthermore, insurance companies are refusing to cover households in areas that were zoned at risk of flooding under the first and totally inaccurate CFRAM study. There was a CFRAM study done which is now being redone. There is a new study being done at the moment. The first one was a desktop study. They did not even go out to the area. The ridiculousness of the process is shown by the fact that Garyhedder on the slopes of the Slieve Bloom mountains, the far side of Clonaslee in County Laois, is zoned to be at risk of flooding. The top of the Esker Ridge in Portlaoise is zoned to be at risk of flooding. If those two areas flooded, nearly all of Laois and Offaly would be under water. It would be a Noah's Ark job.

There is a new CFRAM study. Locally Sinn Féin has made submissions. I ask the Minister of State to bring this to the attention of the Minister for Finance, Department officials and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, and to ensure this matter is corrected before he leaves office. A recent report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform showed that even by 2020, after the improvements are finalised in Cork city, insurers will still refuse to guarantee insurance cover. The almost unique lack of State involvement in insurance in this State has led to private companies being able to pick and choose and demand that more taxpayers' money be spent on flood protection while keeping their hands in their pockets all the time. Insurance companies need to be shaken out of their complacency in this State. The British Tories have no qualms about direct state involvement.

Those trying to insure motor vehicles have also experienced difficulties with the industry over the past year. The CSO has stated that motor insurance has increased by 30%. I would say, given the representations I have had from constituents in Laois and south Kildare, that the figure is higher. Nevertheless, the situation is becoming unsustainable.

The cost of insurance premiums is rendering out of many people's reach the cost of owning and running a motor vehicle. It is unacceptable that working people who rely on cars to travel to work or who rely on vans for employment purposes are being crippled to breaking point by the insurance industry. This is a particular problem for people in rural areas. In cases where little public transport is available and a car is necessary for work, young people throughout County Laois and south County Kildare have told me they are basically being priced out of their jobs. Many of them are on low wages and need a car because there is no public transport. I refer to people in south County Laois who are trying to get into Portlaoise to work or to people from Monasterevin, Graiguecullen, Clonaslee or Mountmellick who need cars to get to work. Furthermore, the significant cost increases on commercial vehicles are often being offset onto small businesses and the result of this can be job losses and non-expansion of companies. The situation is viciously cyclical and affects drivers, transport and small hauliers.

I understand a review group is in place and is working on some of the issues raised in this Chamber. It should come up with some fair, imaginative, intelligent and workable solutions that also consider insurance models in other countries and it should find out what is best. Consideration should be given to what is happening in other countries such as New Zealand. The review group must come up with solutions that can be put in place to resolve this issue and to relieve the pressures on drivers, businesses and home owners because the current position is chaotic, unsustainable and unacceptable. I ask the Minister of State to report back to the Dáil on the outcome of this review as soon as its work is complete. Thereafter, Members must press ahead with the reforms and recommendations and must get a grip on this runaway, chaotic industry and must make insurance accessible and affordable for motorists, businesses and householders.

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