Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not welcome the fact we are talking about putting this off for a year. A number of speakers have referred to the fact that this particular issue did not start today or yesterday. It is a huge imposition on those people who do not have insurance for their family home or business. I would like to think it is an issue the Minister of State could work with us on in terms of finding a solution. We do not need to get into the ins and outs of the technical issues that may exist. I could make the argument that technical issues could be dealt with through amendments on Committee Stage. We can all accept there is a problem. We are talking about particular areas where OPW projects have been carried out because there was a necessity to deal with these areas from a flood protection point of view. That needs to be taken into account.

I welcome the fact the Minister State said we need to review and re-evaluate the situation. That is all very positive. We have to examine the entire idea of flood insurance protection because we know it is not only areas that have faced flooding that are involved; we also have the wider issue with areas where people previously had no problem with getting home insurance or insurance for businesses but suddenly no longer can because CFRAM carried out the necessary reviews from the point of view of the necessary protections that needed to be put in place to protect communities.

My area, County Louth, has a huge number of flood protection operations that, it is to be hoped, will be progressed over the next period of time. They are absolutely necessary. I am living on reclaimed land in Bay Estate. I think Lord Limerick, one of the Rodens, once upon a time journeyed to Holland and decided he would come back to Dundalk and reclaim land. That is all sound, but given the circumstances we are in these areas that definitely fall into the area of needing flood protection.

Many people who never experienced floods or these particular issues previously have gone to their insurance companies and because mapping has been done regarding flood risks they are suddenly in the firing line, for want of a better term. There is a crazy situation whereby people go through a huge amount of shopping around. One company will cover them, usually for a ridiculously high premium, which calls into question how other companies cannot offer cover. It is an issue that needs to be addressed across the board.

I welcome that the Minister of State said she wants to the insurance industry's feet to the fire. That is a necessity. We all know there is a problem with the insurance. Not a day or week goes by without stories about it, in particular regarding public liability insurance. We have had a number of interactions on this.

I agree that an awful lot of necessary moves are being made at the minute but the insurance industry has not reacted the way we would have liked to the personal injury guidelines and so on. There has been movements but we are in a period where there are less claims and where the payouts are less. I, more than anyone here, want to see the duty of care legislation introduced. I think it is absolutely necessary. There will obviously be a time lag in seeing the impact of that. We need to have a shining light on the insurance industry and as much transparency as possible. As much as we cannot intervene in the industry we have to make sure we can have this element of transparency and accountability to make sure everyone gets a fair deal.

The Minister of State previously said that we do not have enough players in the market. I welcome the fact there has been some positive moves and we would like to see the IDA being even more successful at bringing in more companies in the near future. While we are bringing companies in we would like to see an element of fairness regarding premiums. I welcome any moves and imagination and creativity that is being shown. The Minister of State dealt with QPL. We have spoken previously about the insurance offered to local authorities from the point of view of some element of extending it. It is about getting around the corner and making sure certain events happen because we have a particular problem at the minute.

It is about attracting more companies in but it is also about putting pressure on the insurance companies. We need to look at legislation and at making sure there is absolute transparency so the Central Bank and the rest of us can see exactly what is going on regarding insurance companies. I may have gone off on a slight tangent.

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