David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We could also argue that had the long-delayed flood management been in place when it should have, we would not be having this conversation. I ask the Minister to work hard to try to support his colleagues to get that up and running. The issue is that this was exceptional, unexpected and devastating. Many businesses were insured. In the normal course of events, the insurance cover they had would have sufficed but because this was so out of the ordinary, they were caught out badly. Some had a lot of Christmas stock in place at the time. This was destroyed. I ask the Minister to consider that. It was not a case that they could not get insurance.

They were insured up to the limit that would normally be sufficient. However, this was so out of the ordinary and exceptional that a small number have been caught and may not continue in business.

I also asked a question on the appeals system. Is there an appeals mechanism whereby somebody takes a second look in case a mistake was possibly made?I acknowledge and really welcome the scheme. It is fantastic and the Minister is committed to it. The flexibility shown to date has been really good but there are still lessons to be learned.

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