Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Michael McGrath for introducing this Bill which will help to alleviate the financial pressure on home and business owners who are unable to get reasonable insurance cover due to flooding concerns. Major capital investment is being made to alleviate flooding in a lot of towns around the country. However, we are ignoring Inland Fisheries Ireland and the powers of that body. It is preventing people from clearing the waterways. The principal purpose of waterways is to carry water but that basic point seems to have passed Inland Fisheries Ireland by. At times of flooding if pressure was put on Inland Fisheries Ireland and some of its powers curbed that would help to alleviate flooding in some areas.

The Flood Insurance Bill 2016 requires the industry not to discriminate against those who live in areas which are designated as having a one in one hundred year risk of flooding or better. That is just common sense and the practices of the insurance industry must be tackled by this House. This is the first step towards bringing common sense back into insurance. The Bill will oblige insurance companies to provide cover to people who live in areas where millions of euro have been spent on flood defences.

In my own constituency, over €100 million was spent in Clonmel. The general agreement is that it has been a success and yet people are still finding it difficult to get insurance. The same has happened in Carrick-on-Suir. In Templemore approximately €9 million has been ring-fenced for the construction of flood defences but people in that area also have difficulties in obtaining insurance. Following the carrying out of capital works in various areas only 20 houses were flooded, which proves conclusively that the flood defences have worked. The insurance industry must be brought to book and obliged to give people adequate cover.

See this speech in context