Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has that commitment. The Government will engage with the insurance industry in the coming days. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, will lead that process. I encourage business owners and householders to read their insurance policies as each policy is a little different. It is also important that they make contact with their insurer as soon as possible. Insurance companies ask people to do so in order to conduct a damage assessment. I will follow up on the matter of ensuring consumers and homeowners will be provided with better information by the ESB and the insurance industry.

The Government anticipates that this incident will be treated differently from flooding. When there is flooding as a result of severe weather, people often find themselves uninsured because they live on flood plains or in areas that have been flooded previously. As a consequence, they do not have insurance cover. We expect this incident to be treated differently because no one lives in the path of a hurricane which is different from a flood plain. We believe that in the vast majority of cases people will be covered, but the best thing they can do is to read their own policy and contact their insurer as soon as possible.

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