Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy McGrath on this Bill. Insurance companies are like bookies at the moment: they want the safe bet on everything. There is no risk at the moment in what they are doing, because they are basically blackguarding people. Everyone in the House has seen people throughout the country putting flood defences in place around their dwellings, sometimes paid for out of their own pockets. Alas, they have been refused cover again and again.

One thing that needs to be pulled off at the moment is the maps produced in 2009 by the OPW. They are not official but they are used by insurance companies. They show where the "at risk" areas are located.

I see operating demountables as being like driving a car. Someone can make a mistake driving a car. An insurance company has no problem insuring that person for the second time. However, when it comes to demountables, the companies are walking away as if it is not a safe bet. In any town throughout the country if someone sees a dribble of water coming through, there would be enough people to ensure that any mistake would be rectified immediately.

The figure they trash out to us at the moment is 98%. It is like mobile telephone coverage: if enough people in Dublin, Galway and Cork are involved, the company will say there is X% mobile telephone coverage in the country. This is the same trash that the insurance companies dish out.

I commend the work of the Irish National Flood Forum. Representatives from the forum have gone around the country and gelled people together. They have gone from place to place on a voluntary basis to get the message out about what is happening.

The Minister of State has been to the likes of Crossmolina, where Deputy Calleary is from. People are anxious. People in counties Roscommon and Galway have seen the devastation caused by the flooding. Now, unfortunately, insurance companies are basically giving politicians in the House and ordinary people the two fingers. They are telling us what they are going to do and what they will insure. No matter what we have to do as politicians, we have to put them into their box. We have to make them listen to ordinary people. Whatever legislation is required to drive this forward, we must ensure, as politicians and public representatives, that it is enforced.

In the line of SMEs, as referred to earlier, the first thing banks do now is check whether one has insurance. We talk about reviving rural Ireland. Many of the places affected by flooding are in rural Ireland. If things continue the way they are going, between people not getting insurance and not being allowed to expand their businesses, we will drive people out of rural Ireland and it will be empty. I ask the Minister of State to take these guys on and support the Bill. There is nothing wrong with supporting an Opposition Bill if it is for the good of the people and the country. I urge the Minister of State to do so. For once and for all, I ask him to keep the politics out of it. This is for people. This is not for parties or whatever.

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