Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Tá sé spéisiúil go bhfuilimid ag fáil an tuarascáil ón gcoiste baincéireachta inniu agus failtím roimhe sin, cé go gceapaim go bhfuil go leor laigeachtaí ann.

One thing that will be clear from the report of the banking inquiry is that the citizens of this State were surely fleeced by the banks and the unsecured bondholders. The least we should do is look towards the European Union Solidarity Fund to help to put in place proper storm defences. We have had much debate about flooding in recent weeks but there was very heavy rainfall, in particular in the west, in recent days and the flooding and associated problems have not gone away. I heard about many cases of people who have tried to apply for the humanitarian funds available through the Department of Social Protection who are having great difficulty with that. They are being asked to jump through an awful lot of hoops and to provide a significant amount of paperwork. I am informed that the process can be very cumbersome and even discriminatory in certain instances. We also hear that after having a nice conversation with the Taoiseach about insurance for people in areas that are subject to flooding, the insurance industry has said it will not bother doing anything about the matter.I appreciate that we are in the dying days of this Seanad and Parliament. However, we should ask for an update from the Government on what it is going to do about an application to the EU Solidarity Fund to relieve flooding in the places where it has occurred and also to put in place proper storm defences to ensure coastal erosion will not happen in the future. We must ensure we do the work required during the year rather than wait for another winter storm. We also need to know what can be done under the humanitarian fund to make sure it will be much easier for people who have endured great distress to access it to obtain the funding they need to restore their homes. There is also the question of what the Government is going to do about the insurance industry. It needs to take it to task to make sure it will also do its bit to ensure houses can be insured into the future.