Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. The Government’s strategy is that as the return on its investment on flood defence schemes in the most at-risk communities, households and businesses should be able to access flood insurance. The provision of insurance cover, the level of premiums charged and the policy terms applied are a matter for individual insurers.

The Deputy will acknowledge that the Office of Public Works has no responsibility for oversight or regulation of the insurance industry in relation to flood risk insurance, or to insurance matters generally. The Office of Public Works has a very specific role in the exchange of information with the insurance industry on completed flood defence schemes to an agreed standard of protection desired by the industry.

A memorandum of understanding agreed on 24 March 2014 between the Office of Public Works with Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the insurance companies in Ireland, has a specific focus on agreeing a basis on which information can be provided to the insurance industry on flood relief schemes completed by the OPW. It is important to note that the memorandum requires that while insurers take full account of information provided by the OPW on completed flood defence schemes, it does not guarantee the availability of flood risk cover in the locations for which information has been provided by the OPW. Since that time, the level of flood insurance cover for homes and small businesses for areas protected by OPW flood defence schemes has on average increased from 77% to 82%.

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