Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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70. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding a query on flooding and insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29429/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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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.  I understand that, in this case, one insurance company is refusing to provide insurance to the householder.

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 Office of Public Works 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 co-ordinated 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 now be made available to OPW.  I will assess the progress reported and consider whether the current approach is delivering the expected results and whether other approaches need to be considered.

My officials have consulted with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government which advised that when purchasing a property, responsibiltity lies with the prospective buyer to conduct all necessary surveys.

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 .