Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to support this Bill. I will speak a little about its history, which the Minister of State also referred to. It is important that this issue is addressed and it is disappointing to see a further delay being proposed by the Government, given this legislation has had a long genesis, as the Deputy said.

The background to this, as we all know, is that the planet is getting hotter. Unfortunately, severe weather events are becoming more extreme and frequent and sea levels are rising. In fact, recent rates for the relative sea level rise in Dublin have been greater than the global average by a factor of two. Numerous studies have recorded that sea levels along the coast of my constituency of Dublin Bay South and the Minister of State's constituency of Dún Laoghaire are rising faster than anticipated.

These frightening features of life in a climate crisis have real and significant effects for people. One of these effects is on homeowners, of course, who must now deal with damage caused by flooding. Numerous constituents of mine in Sandymount, Ringsend and Irishtown and along the docklands have contacted me because they cannot obtain flood insurance. This has had a significant impact on the terms of their mortgages, aside from the obvious disadvantage they are at in the event that their homes are flooded, which would cause immense distress and damage. Anyone I know who has had a house flooded has suffered far more than in the context of the cost incurred.

This is a serious issue.

We are in a housing crisis, where we have a chronic housing shortage and need to build more homes, including homes in coastal areas. I have pushed for greater urgency around the delivery of necessary housing on the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Poolbeg. At this point, when we are building along the coastline, and rightly so, the failure to take responsibility for people facing a risk of flooding in these circumstances is unacceptable.

Some months ago, I asked the Minister for Finance his plans to reform flood insurance and whether he will act so that people have cover where they live in areas with demountable flood defences. In response, the Minister gave a rather unsatisfactory reply, essentially referring to the provision of insurance cover as a commercial matter for insurance companies providing the service. He essentially washed his hands of the issue. As with supermarket pricing, housing policy and energy costs, the Government is taking far too hands off of an approach to the private market. It is non-interventionist, even where we see intervention as being important and necessary.

That is evident in the amendment brought forward by the Government today, which seeks to delay the Bill. As I said, I will return to the genesis of the Bill. The reality is that there is an urgency to this issue for many people who have been affected, in particular around the unavailability of insurance.

My Labour Party colleague in Pembroke, in Dublin Bay South, Councillor Dermot Lacey, has raised the issue of flood defences, a related issue, over many years. He cited the real difficulty with getting procedures and defences moved on swiftly. Much work is needed. We have called on the OPW to take a stronger role in intervening in Sandymount where the flood wall is too low and action needs to be taken. We are very anxious to see these works carried out, in addition to the installation of the necessary cycle routes. All of these are infrastructural matters which must be progressed in tandem with a more sympathetic policy approach from Government and, indeed, insurance companies.

This, of course, is not just an issue in this constituency. My Labour Party colleague in Dublin City Council, Councillor Declan Meenagh, a councillor in Cabra-Glasnevin, has been very active on the matter. He has said that insurance companies cannot have it both ways. They will not insure where they believe there are inadequate flood defences and where adequate flood defences have been installed they will not insure because there was flooding in the past. It is a catch-22 situation for many householders.

As is the case across many parts of Dublin Bay South, so too parts of Dublin Central have been prone to flooding. We all recall the iconic photos of some of the floods in East Wall, North Strand, Clonliffe and Cabra, which are particularly vulnerable areas. While problems with flooding were identified and addressed in some of those areas following those very serious floods, nevertheless insurance companies simply will not include flooding in an insurance premium in many cases. Due to the fact certain areas have flooded in the past, they said they remain no-go areas for insurance companies. They are acting with total disregard for flood defence works where they have been carried out. I understand some companies have even refused to do a risk assessment on the new set of circumstances. These are issues that impinge very severely on homeowners. That is why the Bill is not, in fact, the first time we have seen this issue come before the House.

The Minister, Deputy McGrath, produced a Bill on this in 2016, as was pointed out. The purpose of it would be to ensure that people who live, work, reside or have businesses in areas where flood relief schemes are implemented would be able to get insurance cover. My colleague in this campaign, Deputy Sean Sherlock, sought last year to resubmit the former Fianna Fáil Bill on flood insurance. He was overtaken by Deputy Brady at the time.

The point is that there is a confluence of views on the need to introduce this sort of legislation. The Government is not opposing the Bill; rather, it is simply seeking to delay it. That shows the cross-party support there is in principle for this issue. I wish to reiterate that while I have referred various areas and communities in Dublin which are prone to flooding, of course Deputy Sherlock referenced the flooding that took place in Fermoy in 2021. He pointed out that when incidents like that occur, relief works have not succeeded and there has been a breakdown. He spoke about the need in those sorts of scenarios to ensure that insurance companies will cover homeowners. The flood protection measures that have been carried out in towns like Fermoy and Mallow are still not enough to give people the protection they need from flood insurance cover. That is why we need to pass the Bill.

I welcome this debate. I am very happy to offer the support of the Labour Party for the Bill. As I said, it is a Bill which comes on the back of previous legislation from Government parties and ourselves. We are glad to see it brought forward. However, we are disappointed the Government is simply putting in place a delaying mechanism, in particular when there is support in principle for the Bill. I would welcome if the Minister of State could set out the proactive steps she will take to address the issue if the Government amendment is passed and it is another year before we can get back to debating this Bill.

Beyond playing wait and see with the European Union, could constructive and meaningful engagement be carried out? I tabled a parliamentary question on this matter. In the reply the Minister for Finance told me there is ongoing engagement, but we are not seeing any results from that engagement. The concern for the homeowners affected is that engagement is pointless if it is not delivering change and has a real impact on those who are affected. The Minister said in order to address the issue of flood coverage levels in areas with demountable defences, continued engagement with all relevant stakeholders is key. We absolutely agree with that, but it should not be used as a delaying tactic. Can the Minister of State say precisely what form of engagement, impact and effect will that engagement have?

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