Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

65. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has considered mandatory insurance based on the United Kingdom Flood Re model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24366/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Flood Re is designed as a not-for-profit flood fund managed and financed by the insurance industry in the UK. Under the Flood Re programme insurers will transfer into the fund those homes at high risk of flooding which they feel unable to insure themselves. Under the scheme, the flood risk element of house insurance premiums for these homes will be capped according to UK council tax bands. Flood Re will charge member insurance firms a total annual charge of £180 million for providing this service. The insurers will then pass this charge back to all their customers, resulting in an estimated levy of £10.50 on annual household premiums. Ireland, being a smaller pool could see significantly higher impact on premiums from a pooling arrangement. The UK Flood-Re scheme is only due to go live in April 2016 and so it would be premature to carry out a review of its impact at this stage.

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 the coming months and will consider whether the current approach is delivering the expected results and whether other approaches need to be considered.

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