Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I raised a concern last week that insurance companies are tending to drag out the payment of any compensation to householders and businesses. I suggested that as a minimum, every insurance company should pay out a sum of €3,000 within 14 days from the date of receiving a claim form, in order to tide people over. It is a very small amount but it is the minimum amount of damage that would have been caused to any property.

In my own job as a solicitor, I have come across situations where claims drag on for 12 to 18 months. People are on very tight budgets and they have suffered huge damage. All of the families affected in Meadowbrook in Glanmire and in Park Court in Ballyvolane are now renting alternative properties at the moment, in order to allow remedial work to be carried out in their houses. They have had to pay one month's deposit up front and one month's rent in advance. Representations should be made to the Irish Insurance Federation on that matter immediately.