Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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128. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to introduce a scheme to the effect that, following the completion of a comprehensive and agreed flood alleviation scheme to the required international standard, insurers may be obliged in law to reinstate flood insurance cover to homes and businesses within the same area; his views that the State should share in the risk for a defined period, immediately following the completion of such works; if he has studied different models of risk sharing abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19474/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am very conscious of the difficulties experienced by householders and businesses that cannot get flood insurance.

The issue of provision of new flood cover or the renewal of existing flood cover is a commercial matter for insurance companies, which is based on a proper assessment of the risks they are accepting.  I, as Minister for Finance, am not in a position to direct insurance companies to provide flood cover to specific individuals. 

The current Government approach to address the availability of flood insurance is to address the underlying problem through appropriate remedial works.  This involves:

(a) prioritising spending on flood relief measures by the OPW and relevant local authorities to address those areas of greatest need including areas where the insurance industry is finding it most difficult to provide cover  - so that flood relief programmes can have maximum impact, where economically feasible,

(b) improving channels of communication between OPW and the insurance industry with the objective of ensuring that appropriate and relevant information on completed OPW flood defence schemes is provided to insurers to facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, the availability to the public of insurance against the risk of flooding.

This coordinated whole-of-Government approach is led by OPW, under the aegis of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with further involvement from the relevant local authorities and other bodies in order to maximise the level of resources available to address flood relief works.  Because of cost and scale of these types of flood defence works, it is an approach which will see benefits over the medium and long term.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Insurance Ireland and the OPW on the sharing of information in relation to completed flood defence works came into effect in on 1st June 2014 and the first full renewal cycle following the MoU has not yet been completed.  In January 2015, Insurance Ireland provided a report to OPW on progress so far.  While this report showed some improvements, it is expected that a fuller and more detailed report on progress under the MoU will be made available to OPW after June 2015.I will assess the progress reported to OPW in June and will consider whether the current approach is delivering the expected results and whether other approaches need to be considered.

Broadly speaking, insurance and compensation systems for flood risk in Europe have been divided into three categories: (i) traditional private insurance systems; (ii) pooling systems in which the government has a considerable role, and (iii) compensation systems fully administered by the government.  Direct comparison with other jurisdictions is difficult as circumstances and legislative frameworks differ widely.  My officials will continue to keep developments in other countries under review, including, in particular the establishment of the Flood Re Scheme in the United Kingdom, which is soon  to be up and running.

In cases where individuals are experiencing difficulty in obtaining flood insurance and believe that they are being treated unfairly it is open to them to contact Insurance Ireland which operates a free Insurance Information Service for those who have queries, complaints or difficulties in relation to insurance. Their service can be contacted at (01) 676 1914 or by email at .